The Immaculate Conception with Saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua

The Immaculate Conception with Saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, dated around 1650, represents Castiglione working in a more overtly devotional mode than his pastoral compositions. The Immaculate Conception — the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin, formally defined as dogma in 1854 but widely accepted in Counter-Reformation Italy — required a specific visual formula: Mary standing on a crescent moon, crowned with stars, crushing the serpent underfoot. The Franciscan saints flanking her were natural attendants given the Franciscan order's historical championship of the Immaculate Conception doctrine against Dominican opposition. Castiglione's Franciscan devotion would have given this subject personal resonance, and the MIA holds this as a significant devotional work outside his celebrated pastoral genre.

The Immaculate Conception formula is vertically organised — Mary above, saints below, heavenly light descending from above. Castiglione integrates his warm pastoral golden light into what is structurally a celestial composition. Francis's stigmata and Anthony's lily or book provide attribute identification. The crescent moon beneath Mary's feet required careful handling of reflected celestial light.