The Visitation with Saint Paul and a Franciscan Martyr Saint
Italian (Veronese) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1500
Materials
Oil and tempera on panel
Measurements
330 x 330 mm (13 x 13 in)
Place of origin
Verona
Order this imageCollection
Montacute House, Somerset
NT 597917
Caption
The visit to Elizabeth by the Virgin Mary, soon after the angel has announced her conception, is told by Luke in the Bible’s New Testament. Mary is seen here in profile in what would have been a blue cloak but the brightness of the colour pigment has darkened with age. She is greeted by her older cousin, in pink, who is also pregnant by six months, with John the Baptist. Often the depiction of the scene includes Joseph and Zacharias, the ladies’ respective husbands, but, unusually, here, the figures are saints: Paul with his sword and Book of Epistles and an unidentified Franciscan martyr. All have circular haloes and those over Mary and Elizabeth are particularly artfully displayed, in perspective, into the landscape background. This is one of the first and earliest paintings to arrive at Montacute in 1948/9, having been presented by Alexander Campbell Blair (d. 1935) of Aberconwy House, Conwy.
Summary
Oil and tempera painting on panel, The Visitation with Saint Paul and a Franciscan Martyr Saint, Italian (Veronese) School, circa 1500. Four full-length figures, on the left Saint Paul, turned slightly to the right, wearing a green gown with red cloak lined with yellow, draped over his left shoulder, across his front and over his left arm, he holds a book in his left hand and a sword in his right hand he has a gold nimbus. Saint Elizabeth is turned to right and embraces the Virgin. She is wearing a black cloak [blue pigment oxidised] covering her head and revealing a pink gown beneath she also has a gold nimbus The Virgin is turned to the left, and embraces Saint Elizabeth. She is wearing a pink cloak which covers her head and reveals a blue gown beneath. Possibly Saint Francis of Assisi, is on the right and turned to the left. He wears a grey habit, holding ?; he also has a gold nimbus. The landscape is of a distant view of trees and mountains with blue sky and clouds. It is rather unusual to have the scene of the Visitation, when the Virgin Mary, newly pregnant with Christ, visited her cousin Elizabeth, six months pregnant with Saint John the Baptist, and uttered the Magnificant, shown between two saints.
Provenance
Presented to the National Trust for Montacute by Alexander Campbell Blair (1862 - 1936) of Aberconwy House, Conwy in 1934/5; transferred to Montacute, 1948/9
Credit line
Montacute House, Campbell Blair of Aberconwy Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Italian (Veronese) School , artist Italian School, artist previously catalogued as attributed to Paolo Veronese (Verona 1528 -Venice 1588), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Italian (Umbrian) School, artist previously catalogued as style of Bartolomeo di Giovanni (fl. c.1475 - 1505), artist
References
Montacute House, Somerset, 1976 [The National Trust; Dudley Dodd] 1976, "THE CRIMSON DRESSING ROOM Paintings The Visitation, Florentine, 15th century. Given by Mr A. Campbell Blair." Montacute House, Somerset, 1991 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, p.67. "THE CRIMSON DRESSING ROOM PAINTINGS The Visitation, with St Paul and St Francis Somewhat in the style of the late fifteenth-century Florentine artist Bartolommeo di Giovanni. Florentine school, fifteenth century." Montacute House, Somerset, 1997 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, revised 1997 , p.67. "THE CRIMSON DRESSING ROOM PAINTINGS The Visitation, with St Paul and St Francis Somewhat in the style of the late fifteenth-century Florentine artist Bartolommeo di Giovanni. Florentine school, fifteenth century." Montacute House, Somerset, 2004-2006 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 2000, revised 2004, reprinted 2005, 2006, p.55. "THE CRIMSON DRESSING ROOM PAINTINGS The Visitation, with St Paul and St Francis ?Veronese school, fifteenth century."