Bartolome Murillo: El Pintor de las Concepciones

"The Immaculate Conception"
by Bartolome Murillo

"Bartolome Murillo painted no fewer than twenty pictures on the subject of the Conception - the 'darling dogma of the Spanish Church' - and the unrivaled grace and feeling for his treatment won for him the title of 'El Pintor de las Concepciones.' The worship of Spain in Murillo's day was, in fact, practically centered in the adoration of the Virgin Mary. The doctrine of the immaculate conception had just become an official article of the Spanish Catholic faith in 1617, and the event had been celebrated in a frenzy of joy.

The rules for the guidance of painters in their treatment of the Mother of Jesus were strict, and it is interesting to see what Pacheco, father-in-law to Velazquez, laid down for the treatment of this all-important subject:

The Virgin's feet were not, on any account, to be visible. It was enjoined that 'Our Lady is to be painted in the flower of her age, from twelve to thirteen years old, with sweet grave eyes, a nose and mouth of the most perfect form, rosy cheeks, and the finest streaming hair of golden hue; in a word, with all the beauty that a pencil can express... Our Lady's eyes are to be turned to Heaven, and her arms are to be meekly folded across her bosom; that the mantling sun is to be expressed by bright golden light behind the figure. The pedestal moon is to be a crescent with downward pointing horns, and the twelve stars above are to be raised on silver rays, forming a diadem like the celestial crown in heraldry. [These symbolic elements reflected verses from the book of Revelation.] The robe of the Virgin must be white and her mantle blue, and round her waist must be tied the cord of St. Francis.

Reactions to Murillo's portrayals of the Virgin were varied. Some criticized them harshly, while others found them absolutely inspirational. 'Standing before that picture,' wrote Edmondo de Amicis, 'my heart softened, and my mind rose to a height which it had never attained before. It was not the enthusiasm of faith. It was a desire, a limitless aspiration towards faith, a hope which gave me a glimpse of a nobler, richer, more beautiful life than I had hitherto led...'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Murillo, a Biography and an Appreciation" by Albert Frederick Calvert.)