# Immaculate Conception \(front and rear views\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [STEINL, Matthias]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Wood, once gilded, height 93 cm ## Commentary The bold design for the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception is a fine example of Austrian High Baroque. It was executed as a study. Standing with her right foot on the crescent moon, balanced on the globe, the figure is shown defying gravity in a violently contorted pose, as prescribed by Italian Mannerists. Following the perspective around, the beholder's gaze is led by the spiral line of the drapery in a perpetual transformation of physical substance to the point of complete dematerialization. In the rear view, the figure appears merely as the shape of a cloud floating on the sky. A monumental version in bronze, which was not executed, was probably based on this figure, and would have been conceived as part of a spatially expansive ensemble. ## Related artworks - [Exterior view]() - [Interior view]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()