The Proclamation of Mary Immaculate

Among the different images that were received in New Granada, allegories were spread, works that sought to make visible some dogmas of the Catholic Church. One of the most important was that of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

However, since the beginning of Christianity, it has already generated numerous disputes. In New Granada, this type of images helped consolidate the belief in the Immaculate Conception and contributed to its wide dissemination among the faithful.

Here, she is shown dressed in a white tunic, a symbol of purity, and a blue cloak. In his hands, he carries a staff with lily flowers, also associated with purity, and a dove, the latter symbol of the Holy Spirit.

On each side of the Virgin stand two angels, holding small cartouches that show the phrase “Deipara inventa sum, ergo Immaculata,” which translates as “I have been created Mother of God, therefore, Immaculate.”

The Virgin's feet rest on a silver crescent whose tips point upward. According to the Catholic Church, this attribute with which this devotion is usually represented is associated with evil. 

Under this element, you see the branches of the tree of good and evil which, as described in Genesis, was closely related to original sin. It was from this tree that Adam and Eve ate the fruit forbidden by God.

Both characters are represented at the feet of the Immaculate Conception, with an evident gesture of guilt and shame. A chain hangs from his wrists, making sin evident as a punishment imposed on humanity. 

Protruding from the tree is the snake, inciter of sin and symbol of evil, which surrounds the primal couple with its body and in turn holds the chains of Adam and Eve between its teeth.

Although the belief in the Immaculate Conception was declared a dogma of the Church by Pope Pius IX, only until 1854, this iconography was very present during the 16^th and 17^th centuries in the colonial society of New Granada.