Our Lady of the Conception Flemish School, Malines or Brussels workshop Early 16th century Polychrome and gilded gessoed oak 121 cm (H) x 42 cm (W) MASF18

This sculpture is also known as the Virgin of Machico, or the Virgin of D. Manuel, confirming its origin and source as the Machico Parish Church and its possible donor, King D. Manuel I of Portugal.
The church was founded at the end of the 15th century, between 1496 and 1499, with various royal donations and was dedicated to Our Lady of the Conception. Besides the royal gifts, two local families, one of the Donatory Captain Tristão Vaz and the other of the Morais, added three chapels to the church: one of St. John the Baptist, the burial site of the Donatory Captains, on the side of the Gospel; the second one, of the Kings, later called the Most Holy Sacrament, instituted by Branca Teixeira, facing the first one; and the other of the Holy Spirit, built by order of Sebastião Morais, next to the pantheon of the Teixeiras.
The half-figure sculpture of Our Lady of the Conception appears to have belonged to a retable structure, occupying the centre niche. The figure appears crowned, as Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven), the crown formed by rosettes, in the style of the Molines workshops. The Virgin's eyes are almond-shaped, and her nose, mouth and chin are small, framed by a veil that reveals two plaits. Her body assumes a languid posture, making a clear S-shaped bend, the Baby Jesus being held in her left arm. In His left hand there is a scroll, alluding to the New Law, and with his right hand, he holds on to the veil of His Mother. A crescent moon completes the piece, an explicit reference to the title Conception. Later, the prevailing theological concepts of the Catholic reform stipulated that the Immaculate Virgin be represented without the Child.
The sculpture shows the direct influence of the school of Malines, without omitting an echo of references to the last Gothic of the North of France.
It must be a work from an eclectic workshop that operated between Brussels and Malines in the early 1500s.
Note its proximity to the Virgin with the Child from the collection of Miguel Pinto¹ in Lisbon, which formerly belonged to the collection of Ernesto Vilhena.

¹ Da Flandres e do Oriente, Escultura Importada, Colecção Miguel Pinto, Casa-Museu Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves,Lisbon, IPM, 2002, p.96