The Immaculate Conception (c. 1770): Art, History and Details

The Immaculate Conception (c. 1770) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Ignaz Günther (German, 1725–1775).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Christian doctrine of the Immaculate Conception maintains that the Virgin Mary was conceived free from sin, ready to be the pure vessel for Christ’s birth. Depicting such an abstract idea required specific imagery. The moon beneath the Virgin’s feet, for example, comes from the New Testament vision of Saint John the Evangelist (Revelation 12:1) of “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,” while the serpent upon which she treads symbolizes Christ’s triumph over original sin. With his characteristically delicate modeling, elongated proportions, and soft coloring, Ignaz Günther created an archetypal image of innocence on the cusp of womanhood.

Object facts

• Title: The Immaculate Conception
• Date: c. 1770
• Creator attribution: Ignaz Günther (German, 1725–1775)
• Culture: Germany, Munich, 18th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: painted and gilded wood
• Dimensions: Overall: 78.6 x 34.5 x 19.2 cm (30 15/16 x 13 9/16 x 7 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1963.294

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review for 1963." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 10 (1963): 263-94.
• Hawley, Henry. "Eighteenth-century Sculpture from Germany and Austria." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art, LI, no. 1 (January, 1964): 1-13.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.