The Immaculate Conception of San Vincente facts for kids
The Immaculate Conception of San Vincente is a painting made with oil paints on a canvas around 1640-1645. It was created by a famous Spanish artist named Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Today, you can find this beautiful artwork in the San Vicente Mártir church in Seville, Spain.
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What is the Immaculate Conception?
The painting shows the Immaculate Conception. This is a belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was born without any sin. Artists often show her looking pure and heavenly, sometimes floating on clouds with angels around her. Murillo painted this subject many times during his career.
The Painting's Journey
This painting was kept in a room in the San Vicente Mártir church for a long time, at least since the mid-1800s. For many years, not many people knew about it.
A Hidden Gem Discovered
In 2019, the painting was carefully cleaned and fixed up. This process is called restoration. After it was restored, it was moved to a more visible spot inside the church.
Experts Study the Art
At the end of 2020, art experts published a study about the painting. They suggested that this might be the very first time Murillo painted the Immaculate Conception. They also believed it was painted even before another famous Murillo work, the La Colasal Immaculate Conception, which is in the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla (Seville Museum of Fine Arts).
Murillo's Early Style
The experts noticed that the style of this painting looks a lot like other artworks Murillo made when he was younger. For example, it is similar to his two paintings of Madonna and Child with Saint Dominic. One of these is at the Archbishop's building in Seville, and the other used to belong to a person called Conde de Toreno. These similarities helped experts understand when The Immaculate Conception of San Vincente might have been painted.
