''The Immaculate Conception'' is an oil on canvas painting made by

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contempor ...

in the year 1670. It belongs to the collection of

Museo Soumaya The Museo Soumaya is a private museum in Mexico City and a non-profit cultural institution with two museum buildings in Mexico City — Plaza Carso and Plaza Loreto. It has over 66,000 works from 30 centuries of art including sculptures from Pre ...

. The dimensions are 168 x 112 cm. The painting was identified as an autograph Murillo in the 1979 catalogue by

Diego Angulo Íñiguez Diego Angulo Iñiguez (July 18, 1901 – October 5, 1986) was an art historian, a university professor, writer and Director of the Prado Museum in Madrid from 1968 to 1970. Complementing his career as a curator an academic, he served as one of ...

, Spanish art historian. It belonged to the French marshal

Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta (; 11 November 1771 – 20 July 1851) was a French general, diplomat, and politician, who served as Naval Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State under the July Monarchy. Ha ...

, an officer who participated in Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1807. The painting traveled with him back to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and remained there until Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun purchased it on the recommendation of his artist ex-wife

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Louise most commonly refers to: * Louise (given name) Louise or Luise may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Songs * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 * "Louise", by The Yardbirds from the album '' Five Live Yardbirds'', 1964 * "Louis ...

, who also suggested he return it to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

References

1670 paintings

1670 Events January–March * January 17 – Raphael Levy, a Jewish resident of the city of Metz in France, is burned at the stake after being accused of the September 25 abduction and ritual murder of a child who had disappeared ...

Paintings in the Museo Soumaya Angels in art Moon in art {{1670s-painting-stub