My prior Art posts can be found HERE.
How do we move away from being a civilization that produces art that causes comments like, “my five year old could make this,” back to being one that creates beauty and inspires deep questions? We must reject modernity and embrace tradition. To embrace tradition, we must first learn about it..
Let’s study art history together.
The Visitation
| Artist | Domenico Ghirlandaio |
|---|---|
| Year | 1491 |
| Medium | Tempera on panel |
| Dimensions | 172 cm × 165 cm (68 in × 65 in) |
| Location | Louvre Museum, Paris |
I greatly enjoy art from the late Medieval / early Renaissance period. Maybe I am drawn to it because their world was going through dramatic changes, must as ours seems to be now. Ghirlandaio’s work here was produced one year before Columbus arrived in the Americas. The nations of Europe were at the dawn of the Age of Exploration, and after that, the Enlightenment and a flourishing of science. Visitation is a religious piece, as was most commissioned art from the Middle Ages, but it was done in a style that looks more modern, three dimensional, and realistic (with a lot of attention to perspective, light refraction, and depth that were not present in earlier times.) With the benefit of hindsight, we can see it as a bridge between what was and what came next.
If you are unfamiliar with Ghirlandaio (we will endeavor to fix that now), it is likely you have heard of one of his apprentices: Michelangelo
The piece itself is a depiction of a scene from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1:
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
These verses describe a very famous moment in the history of Christianity. For one thing, you might recognize Elizabeth’s comment (aided by the Holy Spirit) to Mary as a line from the ‘Hail Mary’ prayer:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear.”
The other reason this scene carried so much importance for Medieval Christians – and for Catholics and Orthodox Christians still today – is the belief that the text was subtly making a link between Mary, the Blessed Mother, and the Ark of the Covenant (the link is explained below):
You might have also noticed in the painting the presence of two other women. They are supposed to represent Mary, the Mother of James, and Mary Salome. (If you read the New Testament, there are a lot of Marys.) At the time, and in some circles still today, it was believed that the two other Marys are sisters or half-sisters of the Mother of Jesus. The text from Luke does not mention their presence, however, neither does it exclude their presence. As a result, it was a not uncommon assumption in history that they were likely present as well.
Some of the other details in the painting include pearls and shells – which are indicative of purity (in this case, the purity of the Blessed Virgin.) The Virgin Mary is wearing red and blue. This was usually how both she and Christ were depicted in Christian art and iconography for most of Church history (link HERE for more information on that topic.)
(more on the painting, via wiki)
The Visitation is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, dating from 1491. It now is in the Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
The work was commissioned by Lorenzo Tornabuoni for the church later known as Santa Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi.
Description
The Visitation refers to the meeting between St. Mary and St. Elizabeth described in the Gospel of Luke, Luke 1:39–56. The subject was set by Ghirlandaio with a large classical arch in the background featuring a landscape in the centre. Elizabeth, wearing a wide yellow vest, is paying homage to Mary and kneeling.
The painting features numerous details, including the refraction effects of the light, which Ghirlandaio studied from Flemish paintings at Florence. Others include: the frieze decorated with pearls and shells (allusions to Mary’s purity), the light veil of the Madonna, the gilt brooch decorated with pearls and a ruby in the centre (this a hint to Jesus’ future Passion) which holds her cloak. The Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe of the Uffizi houses a preparatory drawing of Mary’s cloak.
The two women at the sides are, as described by the inscriptions on the arch, Mary, mother of James, and Mary Salome. In the Medieval context, the two were thought to be daughters of St. Anne and thus the sisters or half-sisters of Mary. In the Gospel narrative, they are not present at the Visitation; but in some interpretations of the crucifixion narrative, they are said to have been present at the foot of the cross, and their inclusion in the painting may be intended as a reference to the crucifixion. Salome’s dress is a citation of Filippo Lippi‘s Bartolini Tondo, which was the inspiration for numerous similarly graceful figures in works by Ghirlandaio, Botticelli and others.
Stylistic differences in the figures testifies the work of workshop assistants, perhaps Sebastiano Mainardi. On the lower right of the arch is the date MCCCCLXXXXI (1491). The city in the misty background could be a re-elaboration of Rome, as it includes a triumphal arch and the Pantheon.
