In keeping with the traditional iconography of the Immaculate Virgin, Mary appears over the Earth’s globe and the crescent moon, stepping on the head of evil serpent and backlit by a shining circle. She is flanked by the heads of cherubs. With extended hands and a crown of stars, she raises her expressive yet withdrawn gaze to the heavens, where two sketchy angels’ heads are barely visible. This singular Immaculate Conception has been attributed to Mengs with some reservations. Its splendid touch, refined technique, delicate modeling and flesh tones, as well as its extremely fine palette recall the original that Mengs painted in Torino in May 1774, just before he returned to Spain. That work, which Ponz mentions as belonging to Fernando Méndez’s private collection in 1788, entered the Casa de los Cinco Gremios Mayores in Madrid. There, according to his personal inventory, José de Madrazo painted four copies of it between 1800 and 1801. It was also copied by José Beratón in 1792 (at the behest of Manuel Godoy) and Angel Arias in 1795 (Text from Gutiérrez Márquez A.: Memoria de actividades del Museo del Prado, 2002, p. 32).