Pygmalion and Galatea

Étienne Maurice Falconet, Pygmalion et Galatée (1763)

For Pygmalion so loved his graven Galatea that the gods took pity and gave her life, that Pygmalion might not die alone, but know mortal joy.

And so the project of depicting Pygmalion and Galatea expresses the quest for a perfect expression of the Immaculate Conception, albeit in reverse. For now we see through mirrors, darkly; but then face to face.