This article tests several of Robert Pring-Mill’s schematic clarifications of “the nature and functioning of the concepto” against examples from Golden-Age
devotional poetry and doctrinal treatises. In particular, it explores ways in which the conceptista conflation of figures for the Incarnation and figures for the poet’s craft can clarify our understanding of contemporary aesthetics and reading practices, thereby building on Pring-Mill’s treatment. Gaspar de los Reyes’s ‘Tesoro de divinos concetos’ and Lope de Vega’s ‘Los pastores de Belén’ provide the principal sources of conceptista specimens.