MASTERPIECES
IN COLOUR
EDITED BY
T. LEMAN HARE
MURILLO
1618-1682
PLATE I.—THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. Frontispiece.
(From the Louvre, Paris)
This greatly admired canvas is one of the painter's many studies of a familiar subject. There are more than a dozen pictures of the Immaculate Conception whose authenticity is undisputed, and there are many others on offer in Spain, clever and sometimes old imitations of the master's mannerisms. In this case the figure of the Virgin is rather over-elaborated, but the treatment of the attendant cherubs is delightful and the composition very skilful.
