Representations of the Immaculate Conception illustrate the belief that Mary, as the mother of the Saviour, was without any stain of the original sin at the moment of her conception. The doctrine consistently troubled artists and patrons during the early Renaissance, since no clear narrative existed for the portrayal of the largely abstract subject.
Some patrons favoured the image of Mary as the Woman of the Apocalypse, as she appears in the Book of Revelation, "clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." (Rev 12:1) However Millard Meiss points out (in Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death) that the Virgin as the Apocalyptic Woman did not always define the Immaculate Conception. The Madonna of Humility, a frequent Dominican subject, often utilised this theme.
The first recognized way of showing the subject derives from apocryphal writings about the life of the Virgin, which popularized the belief that Mary's conception occurred with the meeting of Anne and Joachim at the Golden Gate. Decorative cycles of the Virgin's life frequently include that image, and it was used to illustrate the Feast of the Conception in breviaries. There are cycles of the Miracles of the Virgin in Winchester Cathedral and in Eton College Chapel.
An altarpiece from the Dalmatian school at the National Gallery in London shows the Virgin and Child surrounded by a series of narrative panels, among them the Embrace at the Golden Gate. The panels present a popular sermon on the Immaculate Conception. Many altarpieces juxtapose the Meeting of Joachim and Anne with the Annunciation, so that the proclaimed moment of Mary's conception and the mystical incarnation of Christ together expound the idea of the Immaculate Conception for the spectator.
A French triptych by Jean Hey, which included these two scenes flanking a now-lost central panel, was displayed in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the Moulins Cathedral. The two remaining fragments are separated [reunited here], with the Meeting of Joachim and Anne in the National Gallery of London and the Annunciation in the Art Institute of Chicago. A slightly different type of juxtaposition is found in Piero di Cosimo's Immaculate Conception in the Uffizi.
While patrons struggled over how to depict the Immaculate Conception, theologians argued over its legitimacy. The controversy divided the Catholic Church, with the Franciscans defending the concept and the Dominicans contesting it.
It was believed that Mary, as the mother of the Saviour, existed in the mind of God before the formation of the world. This theme was proclaimed through different verses:
Under the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV the Feast of the Immaculate Conception was recognized in 1476. This approval resulted in the composition of two new Offices for the occasion, one by Leonardo Nogarolo and another by Bernardo di Busti. Both Offices were composed largely of quotations from Scripture and emphasised popular litanies of the Virgin. These texts profoundly influenced Immaculate Conception iconography.
With Mary as the figure of focus, her freedom from original sin was emphasised by incorporating inscriptions and symbols of the litanies found in the Offices. In many of these paintings the Virgin is shown in Heaven with God the Father or Christ, who exempts her from sin with His sceptre. The iconography derives from the Old Testament Book of Esther. Esther defied the law to confront Artaxerxes and was absolved with the words "...this law is not made for thee, but for all others." (Esther 15:13) The quotation is frequently presented on a scroll next to the Godhead, proclaiming Mary's status as the single exception from original sin.
Saints and prophets below the figure of the Virgin in Heaven carry scrolls with inscriptions from the litanies. The Disputation of the Immaculate Conception, executed by Vincenzo di Antonio Frediani for the Franciscan church of San Francesco in Lucca, is strewn with quotations from the Office composed by Bernardo di Busti. Litany symbols of the Virgin decorate the landscape.
Saints Anselm, Augustine and Duns Scotus join David (identified by his harp) and Solomon, each bearing a scroll. Each saint and prophet is labeled. Although St. Anthony of Padua's name is written under the figure of Scotus (who had not been canonised at the time of the painting's execution), a document relating to the commission confirms the identity of the figure. Similar compositions were executed by Francesco Francia and Piero di Cosimo among numerous others.
The Song of Songs, from which many of the litanies derive, was an important immaculist source. Labelled symbols from the Marian litanies often accompanied images of the Immaculate Conception.
From the Song of Songs
Other symbols include
In such images, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is nearly always identified by a quotation from Songs 4:7: "Tota pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te" - "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee." Furthermore, Solomon and David, as possible authors, are often present. Sicut Lilium provided the title for Nogarolo's Office: "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." (Song 2:2)