This exceptional statue of the Virgin Mary, carved in cedarwood, forms a pair with an Angelalso in the BBVA Collection. Depicting Our Lady of the Annunciation, this work is a superb example of the creativity and the growing religiousness dominating art during the Spanish Golden Age.

Although the author of the sculpture remains unknown, the profile and the style of execution suggest a connection with other religious images from Seville in the late 17^th and early 18^th century. More specifically, certain similarities bring to mind the work of the Seville-born artist Pedro Duque Cornejo (1678-1757). A member of a family of artists, Duque Cornejo learned his trade in the workshop of his grandfather, the sculptor Pedro Roldán (1624-1699), from whom he would inherit certain stylistic peculiarities including the thickness of the apparently wet hair, the movement of the clothing to draw diagonal lines, the treatment of volumes and the expressiveness of the figures. He was also influenced by his aunt, the sculptress María Luisa Roldán (1652-1706), commonly known as La Roldana, who followed the teachings of her father in the creation of processional statues in a similar style in terms of the treatment of volume and the movement of the figures, to which she added her personal virtuosity in the estofado polychrome wood technique and the application of colours. The fact that these very features are visible in this carving would justify its attribution to the .

The Virgin Mary is seen kneeling on a rock, her right hand on her belly in allusion to her hopes for her approaching motherhood. Her peaceful countenance, with her gaze cast downwards, shows an acceptance of the service God has commended her with. She is wearing a robe made with incisions and estofadoof floral motifs in white, blue and red, while the red cloak with an ermine collar is decorated with vegetal motifs.

It is worth underscoring its resemblance—insofar as the posture, the movement of the hands, the treatment of the hair and the delicate rendering of the face—with the Mary Magdalene from the Brotherhood of Vera Cruz in Salteras (Seville), also attributed to the circle of the Roldán family and to Duque Cornejo.

The sculpture was subjected to a number of interventions over its lifetime, as confirmed during the course of the restoration. These interventions affected the flesh colouring both of the face and hands, with evidence of repaintings applied over the original in the mid 19^th and the 20^th century. Practically the whole surface of the cloak retains its original colour, which is probably from the first half of the 18^th century, except for some parts of the shoulders and arms, on which some new gilding and enamels were applied in the 19^th century. This is also the case of the robe, which must have been re-coloured at the end of that century. Worth underlining is the superb quality in the execution and style of the 19^th century interventions, which strove to preserve the Baroque aesthetics in the vegetal motifs carried out using engraving and die-cutting techniques.