April 28, 2024
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  9. The Visitation by Domenico Ghirlandaio

The Visitation by Domenico Ghirlandaio


Gustave Moreau - Jupiter and Semele
The Visitation by Domenico Ghirlandaio

This fresco depicts a biblical story of the Virgin Mary visiting the aging Elizabeth, both of whom are having miraculous pregnancies. The former with Jesus and the latter, John the Baptist. The landscape in the distance is not of Judah, the original location. Florence is the setting of the story according to this fresco. On the right side, behind the two maidens following Elizabeth, is a young woman in an elegant Florentine costume. That is Giovanna Tornabuoni (here is another iconic Renaissance-style portrait of her in the same hairdo). She was married to the son of Giovanni Tornabuoni, who commissioned Ghirlandaio to paint his chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence with artworks such as this one.

In a clever touch, Ghirlandaio put the steeple of that very church in the background (on the right). Next to it, between the trees, is the tower of another iconic building: Palazzo Vecchio. Note the young men in contemporary costumes with their backs to us (in the middle), and the two similarly fashionable men walking out of a monumental ancient Roman building on the far right.