Immaculate. Carved And Polychrome Wood, Glass, Silver. Portuguese School, 18th Century.

Immaculate. Carved and polychrome wood, glass, silver. Portuguese school, 18th century.
Wooden sculpture depicting a young Mary, her hands clasped in front of her chest in an attitude of prayer, standing on a cloud from which the heads of winged angels emerge. Dressed in a tunic, her cloak appears to be floating, the garments are decorated with flowers, waves, etc., combining polychromy and gilding. She wears a silver crown in its natural state, with architectural and plant elements of classical influence, which shows no signs of contrast. Under the cloud, there is a rectangular base of gilded wood decorated with architectural and plant elements in relief. It should be noted that it is also worked on the back, where there is a label affixed after the work was completed. According to its iconography, it would be a sculpture of the Immaculate. This is one of the most common models for representing the Virgin in the Baroque art of the Spanish school, but it is also found in other schools (where reference is usually made more to the Virgin of the Conception or the Immaculate Conception). This invocation presents an iconography whose development began in Spanish Gothic art, responding to a desire to highlight the purity of the Mother of Christ. In its beginnings, it presented details from the Vision of Saint John on Patmos and elements belonging to the Marian Litany, before becoming simpler over time. Stylistically, we can appreciate in the movement and in some details of the mantle a certain influence of the Rococo, an artistic movement born in France (where it developed between 1730 and 1760) and which spread from there to other European schools. A sculpture quite similar to this one is known to exist in the Portuguese parish of Nossa Senhora da Vila, Nossa Senhora do Bispo e Silveiras (officially: União de Freguesias de Nossa Senhora da Vila, Nossa Senhora do Bispo e Silveiras), in Évora, dating from the second half of the 18th century and considered to belong to the Portuguese school, although it has not been possible to find more details about its author. This sculpture also has a base similar to that of this sculpture.
Dimensions: 21 x 15 x 56 cm