Tota Pulcra [The Immaculate Conception]

The Creole painter, Baltasar de Echave Ibía, belongs to the Echave dynasty. He is called "the Echave of the blues" due to the range of colors used by him, and his work is typified by the use of plastic resources stemming from the Flemish tradition. In this work in particular, we can see not only the hand of this artist, but also the brushwork of his father, Baltasar de Echave Orio, which is hardly strange given the collaborative atmosphere that prevailed in the guild studio. The historical context of this picture is the dispute regarding the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary herself, sustained between the Dominican 'Maculates' and the Franciscan ‘immaculates’. In 1617, Pope Paul the Vth authorized worship of the Virgin Mary and forbade public speeches in favor of ‘Maculism’. The good news, celebrated a year later in México City with a magnificent festivity, besides enjoying popular religious support, favored the creation of an iconography capable of synthesizing such an abstract concept. The Virgin is portrayed as the woman of the Apocalypse, clad in a white tunic and sky-blue robe, with a crown of twelve stars and the moon beneath Her feet. Around Her are ranged cloud supported cherubs, holding some of the attributes described in the Lauretian litany: the ladder to the sky, the spotless mirror, etc. One of the pictures most distinctive features is the figure of a mermaid at the feet of the Virgin. This portrayal stems from the emblematic tradition in which the aforesaid mythical being was not only evil incarnate, but also symbolized lust, which, in this case, is trampled underfoot by the one who was conceived without sin. This work entered the MUNAL as part of the latter’s founding endowment in 1982.