Last Dream of a Virgin
1895. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
In a Symbolist vein, this work proclaims the perfect end for a Christian girl whose virginity is rewarded in her last dream with a lily of purity laid by an angel on her breast. In a language indebted to Pre-Raphaelite painting, Villegas Brieva fashions a transcendent icon that condenses the ideological pressure exerted on women by the nineteenth century concept of feminine virtue.
G. Navarro, Carlos, Invitadas. Fragmentos sobre mujeres, ideología y artes plásticas en España (1833-1931), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2020, p.142 nº 8