1618-1682
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PLATE I.--THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. Frontispiece.
(From the Louvre, Paris)
This greatly admired canvas is one of the painter's many studies of a
familiar subject. There are more than a dozen pictures of the
Immaculate Conception whose authenticity is undisputed, and there are
many others on offer in Spain, clever and sometimes old imitations of
the master's mannerisms. In this case the figure of the Virgin is
rather over-elaborated, but the treatment of the attendant cherubs is
delightful and the composition very skilful.
[Illustration: PLATE I.--THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION]
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