Immaculate Conception - an Antolinez in England

I have now found an image of the other version by José Antolinez of the Immaculate Conception.

It is in the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle in county Durham, which has the largest number of Spanish paintings in Britain outside London in addition to its other collections - notably of French eighteenth and nineteenth century art and furnishings. The Bowes is very well worth visiting if you are in the area - it is quite a surprise to find a collection similar in nature to the Wallace Collection in London on the edge of a small northern market town. The website of the museum is here.

Image: Wikimedia

The painting is, in my opinion, quite lovely - one that stays in the memory with its charm and delicacy and joyful exhuberance. Worth a visit to the Museum for that alone.

José Claudio Antolinez (1635-75) spent most of his painting career working in his home city of Madrid. He commonly painted depictions of the Immaculate Conception, done in a colourful and gentle style. By contrast, Antonlinez himself was known for having a bad temper and a considerable ego. His '"haughty character and sarcastic personality gained him many enemies among his contemporaries", and he played maddening jokes on his colleagues. In addition to religious paintings, he also produced several portraits and genre scenes. He died in Madrid from a fever in 1675 after suffering a number of wounds during a fencing match.