The iconographical features of the image of the Immaculate Conception — “The Women clothed with the Sun”

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the formation and typological features of the iconography “The Women clothed with the Sun” that became the main type of the image “ The Immaculate Conception” in the European Christian art of the end of XVI – XVII centuries. A lot of specialists are sure that this iconography is stable and undeveloped but it’s wrong. The image of the Immaculate Conception as the Woman of Apocalipse has a long way of evolution and exists in the art in various iconographical types. The basic material are the works of the Spanish painting of the XVII-th cent.in which the iconography is very rich and various. In this article there is the analysis of a lot of works by the best painters of the “Golden Age” of the Spanish school: El Greco, Diego Velasquez, Fransisco Zurbaran, Bartolomeo Esteban Murillo. Also we research the genesis of this iconography in the art of the Late Gothic and Renaissance of France and Italy XVI- XVI centuries in the works by Giorgio Vasari, Piero di Cosimo, Ludovico Chigoli (Cardi). The evolution of the iconography developed from the use of a lot atributs and symbols with theological content to the so called mystical image where this content is demonstrated only by means the mode of painting.