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The Immaculate Conception

Guido Reni Italian
1627
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 620
Reni, during his lifetime the most celebrated living painter in Italy, was famous for the elegance of his compositions and the beauty and grace of his heads, earning him the epithet “Divine.” This altarpiece, with its otherworldly space shaped by clouds and putti in a high-keyed palette, was commissioned in about 1627 by the Spanish ambassador in Rome for the infanta of Spain. It later hung in the cathedral of Seville, where it deeply influenced Spanish painters, especially Bartolomé Estebán Murillo, whose workshop produced many iterations of this subject. The Immaculate Conception became a symbol of the universality of the Catholic Church and was used for the conversion of populations across Spain’s global empire.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Immaculate Conception
  • Artist: Guido Reni (Italian, Bologna 1575–1642 Bologna)
  • Date: 1627
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 105 1/2 x 73 in. (268 x 185.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Victor Wilbour Memorial Fund, 1959
  • Object Number: 59.32
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Pictorial print, Guido Reni in Rospiglioso Palace, Rome Italian, Cotton, French
Pictorial print
Guido Reni
mid-19th century
Angoli dipinti a fresco da Guido Reni nella Loggia contigua al Giardino del Palazzo dell'Eccmo. SigR. Duca Mazarino nel Monte Quirinale intagliati da Carlo Cesio dati in Luce da Domenico de Rossi. . .in Roma alla Pace. . .
Guido Reni
n.d.
The Virgin holding the infant Christ on her lap, an oval composition, after Reni, Guido Reni Italian, Etching
The Virgin holding the infant Christ on her lap, an oval composition, after Reni
Guido Reni
1620–50
A group of angels embracing in flight, framed by clouds, Guido Reni Italian, Etching
A group of angels embracing in flight, framed by clouds
Guido Reni
Luca Cambiaso
ca. 1607
The Holy Family with young John the Baptist and Saint Elizabeth, two angels above, Guido Reni Italian, Etching
The Holy Family with young John the Baptist and Saint Elizabeth, two angels above
Guido Reni
ca. 1590–1610

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