Visitation of Carmignano

Pontormo's Visitation of Carmignano is an oil on panel painting dated around 1528-1530, still in the church of Saints Michael and Francis in Carmignano, near Florence. It shows Mary meeting her cousin Elizabeth in a dim street, flanked by two secondary figures who seem like doubles of the protagonists: an older woman who looks straight out at the viewer and a younger one with a blanker gaze. The two saintly women, with fine gold halos, embrace with restrained intensity, while the background, with grey buildings at inconsistent scale, feels almost unreal and motionless. The greens, pinks and oranges of the robes are mirrored from one figure to another, and bodies and cloth form elegant serpentine lines. The diamond-shaped composition derives from a Dürer print, and in the lower left background two seated figures are probably Saint Joseph and Zacharias. Usually dated just after the Capponi Chapel, it is an early and highly representative work of Mannerism.

Painter

Pontormo

Date

1528

Medium

oil paint, cardboard

Dimensions

202 × 156 cm

Museum

Rectory of Saints Michael and Francis

Genre

religious art

Depicts

standing, white people, Elizabeth, abaya, Mary, Tichel, stole, woman

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