The Visitation
possibly Jean André (Paris 1662 - Paris 1753)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1700 - 1753
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
876 x 718 mm (34 1/2 x 28 1/4 in)
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732341
Caption
The visit to Elizabeth of the Virgin Mary, soon after the angel has announced her conception, is told by Luke in the Bible’s New Testament. Mary, accompanied by Joseph carrying a bundle of clothes, stands, radiant, with her hand on her belly. She is greeted by her older cousin who is also pregnant, with John the Baptist. Zacharias, high priest and Elizabeth’s husband, stands in a classical doorway with another female figure, possibly another Mary. This painting is similar to a Visitation, attributed to Frère André, from the chapel of the Hospice Civil du Saint Esprit, now in the museum in Toulon, forming a set with The Annunciation, The Nativity and The Presentation in the Temple. It also has the same composition as another Visitation, one of 58 pictures painted for the Dominican (Frère André’s own Order) church of St Thomas d'Aquin [des Jacobins] and now in the Cathedral of Auxerre.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Visitation, possibly by Jean André, known as Frère André (Paris 1662 – Paris 1753) - or after him. This biblical scene shows the Virgin Mary in the centre, radiant and with her right hand on her belly, greeted by her older cousin Elisabeth on a step of a classical building. Joseph is behind Mary on the left carrying a bundle of clothes and Zacharias stands in a doorway with another figure behind Anne, up some steps, on the right. The visit is recounted in the New Testament (Luke 1:36-56) of the Bible . It is similar in composition to an altarpiece attributed to Frère André now in the Musée de Toulon from the chapel of the Hospice Civil du Saint Esprit at Toulon.
Provenance
Given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of the contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
possibly Jean André (Paris 1662 - Paris 1753), artist previously catalogued as after Jean André (Paris 1662 - Paris 1753), artist