COLUMBIA, SC.- In February 2005, The Immaculate Conception by Jusepe de Ribera (1591 - 1652) from the Columbia Museum of Art's collection will travel to Rome to be included in the exhibition, A Woman Dressed in Sun: Iconography of the Immaculate Conception. The last day for the public to view this painting before it is removed from the galleries to prepare for its travel will be on Thursday, January 13, 2005.

This monumental painting dated 1637 is approximately 9 feet tall by 6 feet wide and is one of Ribera's better-known works. The exhibition will be at the Braccio di Carlo Magno of The Vatican Museums from February 11 to May 13, 2005. It is being organized in honor of the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854 that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.