The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painted The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables in 1678. The Virgin Mary ascends toward heaven, her hands joined in prayer, surrounded by cherubs and bathed in golden light. She stands on a crescent moon, trampling the serpent of sin beneath her feet.

Murillo painted numerous versions of this subject, which was especially dear to Spanish devotion. The doctrine holds that Mary was conceived without original sin. Murillo's Virgins became the definitive images of this belief: young, beautiful, gazing heavenward with serene faith.

This version hung in the Hospital de los Venerables in Seville until Marshal Soult seized it during Napoleon's invasion. After various adventures, it reached the Prado in 1941.