An extremely broad development certainly makes this one of the most ambitious and complex depictions of the Immaculate Conception ever painted in Madrid, as well as one of the finest by this painter. In an iconographic sense, it closely follows the traditional model for this subject, presenting the Virgin as the Woman of the Apocalypse (chap. XII, 1).Upright and walking on the lunar globe, crowned with twelve stars and dressed in a white tunic and blue robes, she is accompanied by a truly uncommon number of compositionally significant child angels bearing the attributes of the Litany: lilies, a palm leaf, roses, irises and olive and laurel branches. Others bear the sealed ark and the mirror.

The gates of Heaven (Porta Coeli) and Jacob’s Ladder (Scala Dei) appear at the sides of the composition, along with the morning star and a rainbow. While the virgin is quite solid in her proportions, her silhouette takes on an uncommon sense of movement, thanks to a complicated, curlicue treatment of her clothing that transforms its edges and folds into twisted curls. Her wavy hair also suggests that she is moving against the wind like a Christian Nike. The angels are arranged in an arch, accompanying the presence of the rainbow, while the skillful sinking of the background on the sides to accentuate this sense of triumphal imposition make this a singular composition. It is probably from quite late in Rizi’s career—after 1674, when he painted his versions of the Assumption of Mary Magdalene and not far from 1680, when he painted the Immaculate Conception for las Gaitanas in Toledo. This latter work has the most complex iconography and the largest size of all his depictions of this subject, and it is clearly related to the present painting, especially in its treatment of the children. The refined coloring, somewhat veiled by aging varnishes, and the masterful and vibrant use of the brush exemplify this master’s finest capacities. While it was originally and correctly classified as a painting by Francisco Rizi; in the early 20th century, Beruete and P. Quintero considered it the work of Valdés Leal, involuntarily emphasizing the similarity of technique and spirit that clearly links those two masters (Text from Pérez Sánchez, A. E.: Carreño, Rizi, Herrera y la pintura madrileña de su tiempo. 1650-1700, Ministerio de Cultura, 1986, p. 261).