Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Conception, painted in 1767 and now at the Courtauld Gallery, is the third of the three Courtauld modelli from Tiepolo's Aranjuez altarpiece series — alongside the Saint Paschal Baylon's Vision and the Stigmatization of Saint Francis. The Immaculate Conception, showing the Virgin preserved from original sin at the moment of her own conception, was a doctrine formally promulgated as Catholic dogma only in 1854, but the theological position had been defended by the Franciscan order since the thirteenth century and was broadly accepted in Spanish Catholic practice by the eighteenth century. Tiepolo's treatment emphasizes the celestial splendor of the mystery — the Virgin surrounded by angels in golden light — bringing his characteristic airiness and luminosity to what might in other hands have been a static devotional formula.

The Virgin ascends in a spiral of angels and clouds, her blue mantle providing the composition's dominant cool note against the warm golds of the celestial glory. Tiepolo's brushwork is characteristically fluid and confident, creating forms that seem to float in luminous atmosphere.