The Visitation
The Visitation
3D
Published 2018-03-19T10:44:21+00:00
Oak, carved in low relief. The Virgin Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth
Two oak boards of unequal size, carved in low relief. The Virgin Mary stands on the viewer's left,. Her head is uncovered and she wears a long dress and a cloak held together on her chest by a brooch . Her married cousin Elizabeth stands on the right. Her head is covered and she wears a long dress and a cloak loosely draped over her shoulders. She rests her left hand on her 'bump' , and extends her right to the Virgin, who grasps it in both hands in sympathetic greeting. Behind and between them is a tree situated on a hill.
In the later Middle Ages the laity were encouraged to re-live the Gospel story as it unfolded during the year. Paintings and sculpture, and the illustrations in Books of Hours (for people rich enough to own one) assisted them to do this, by giving immediacy to these dramatic but long past events. Very little was known about the clothing worn in the biblical period, so the characters were normally shown in contemporary dress.
| Date published | 19/03/2018 |
| Complexity | Easy |
| Title | The Visitation |
| Date | After 1407 — before 1430 |
| Dimension | height, whole, 60.0, cm width, whole, 35.5, cm |
| Accession | M.7-1928 |
| Period | Late Medieval |
| Medium | Oak |
| Credit | Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest; 1928 |
| Record | http://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer/index.php?oid=30274 |
| Artist | Unknown artist |
| Place | Fitzwilliam Museum |
