Juan de Villanueva y Barbales
The Immaculate Conception

1739-42
Cathedral of St. Savior, Oviedo, Spain

This statue is the centerpiece of the Retable of the Immaculate Conception, in the south transept of the cathedral. (See below.) The sunburst behind it and the moon beneath refer to Revelation 12:1, "And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars," a text traditionally believed to refer to the Virgin Mary.

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Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.



The Immaculate Conception retable is in the south transept of the cathedral. The central statue is the Virgin Mary as Immaculate Conception, with statues of SS. Joachim and Anne to her left and right, St. Joseph and God the Father above her.