The Immaculate Conception
1733. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
This work was probably inspired by an early Cerezo sketch that is now preserved in the Hispanic Society in New York. It foreshadows a new 18th-century aesthetic. The Immaculate Virgin’s dress is a greyish silver colour, and the sheen of the fabrics is achieved with elongated white brushstrokes. The skin tones are very light and delicate, and the little angels, with their blue wings and the flowers in their hands, enliven this painting of great quality. The manner of painting the canvases, the steely grey tone for the costume, the pearl decorations on the sleeves, as well as his typical angels, are all quite characteristic of the painter’s work.
Santiago Páez, Elena, Miguel Jacinto Meléndez: pintor de Felipe V, Oviedo, Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias, Centro Regional, 1989, p.127, 190
