Immaculate Conception, 1767 (oil on canvas)

Tiepolo made this sketch in preparation for one of the seven altarpieces he painted for the Church of San Pascual in Aranjuez (Spain). This was his last major commission. The church was built by King Charles III for the Alcantarine friars, also known as Discalced (‘barefoot’) Franciscans and the subjects chosen reflect the order's austere Christianity. Tiepolo’s paintings however hung in the church for only a few years. The king found them old-fashioned and had them removed. The image of Mary as both a virgin and bearing a child derives from the Book of Revelation, which describes 'a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars'.