Attributed to ISIDORO TAPIA (Valencia, ca. 1712 - act. until 1771/77). "Immaculate Conception. Oil on copper. Size: 9 x 8 cm; 19 x 17 cm (frame). Miniature in which we can observe the representation of the Immaculate perfectly framed within the Spanish 18th century, marked at stylistic level by the rococo, although at iconographic level it follows the models established in the baroque. We see Mary dressed in white and blue (symbols of purity and the concepts of truth and eternity, respectively), surrounded by child angels, standing on clouds. Medieval Christianity passionately debated the belief that Mary was conceived without stain of original sin. Some universities and corporations vowed to defend this privilege of the Mother of God, several centuries before the First Vatican Council defined the dogma of faith in 1854. At the end of the Middle Ages the need arose to give iconographic form to this idea, and the model of the Apocalyptic Woman of Saint John was taken, maintaining some elements and modifying others (the Apocalyptic Woman is pregnant, but not the Immaculate). The definitive image came to fruition in the 16th century, apparently in Spain. Following a Valencian tradition, the Jesuit Father Alberro had a vision of the Immaculate Conception and described it to the painter Juan de Juanes so that he could depict it as faithfully as possible. It is an evolved iconographic concept, sometimes associated with the theme of the Coronation of the Virgin. Mary is shown standing, dressed in a white tunic and blue cloak, her hands crossed on her chest, with the moon at her feet (in memory of Diana's chastity) and treading on the infernal serpent. Around her head, like a halo, she wears the twelve stars, symbolising fullness and alluding to the twelve tribes of Israel. Most of these images are accompanied in the painting by the Marian symbols of the litanies and psalms, such as the mystical rose, the palm tree, the cypress, the enclosed garden, the ark of Faith, the gate of Heaven, the ivory tower, the sun and moon, the sealed fountain, the cedar of Lebanon, the spotless mirror, the morning star, and so on. In Baroque painting, the background is usually celestial and populated with angels, as artists from the 17th century onwards faithfully maintained the iconographic type but dispensed with the symbols of the litanies or reduced them, incorporating them into the composition in a naturalistic manner, and sought greater dynamism and a sense of theatricality. According to Ceán Bermúdez, the Valencian painter Isidoro de Tapia trained with Evaristo Muñoz. In Valencia he executed several works commissioned by the public, and in 1743 he moved to Madrid. He joined the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where he was appointed a meritorious academician in 1755. It is thought that he also spent some time working in Portugal. He taught drawing at the Academy until his death, and also worked for the Royal Stables of the Royal Palace. Although few signed works by his hand are known, Ismael Gutiérrez Pastor compiled a small catalogue of twenty-eight works that provide an insight into the personality of this painter, and also reconstructed his life from known and unpublished documents. Works by Isidoro de Tapia are currently held in the San Fernando Academy and other collections. Dimensions 9 x 8 cm; 19 x 17 cm (frame).