The Immaculate Conception
1651. Oil on canvas.Not on display
This is the most sober composition of all the versions of the Immaculate Conception painted by Rizi, as Ángulo pointed out (1962). Its silhouette indeed evokes that of Ribera, which was kept in San Pascual in Madrid and was studied and copied extensively by Madrid painters (Pérez Sánchez 1974: 248). However, in the position of the downward-facing horns of the moon, it follows the model of the one in the church of Santa Isabel in Madrid, by Ribera himself. The evident monumentality of the figure and the refinement of the flowers (lilies, roses and madonna lilies) that the cherubim carry, as Marian attributes, make this work one of the most significant of his production. The work is from the Museo de la Trinidad, whose catalogue indicates that it used to be kept in the sacristy of the Capuchin convent of la Paciencia in Madrid. According to Palomino’s testimony, it was previously in a chapel on the epistle side of the convent church. Perhaps this would allow it to be dated close to 1651, when the large canvas that was the main altar of the convent, El Expolio de Cristo (Cristo de la Paciencia), is dated
