The Visitation
Medium
Engraving; second state of six (BLL)
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 12 11/16 × 19 1/2 in. (32.3 × 49.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.95.2319
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *The Visitation*, a engraving created around 1540–50 by the renowned Italian engraver Giorgio Ghisi after a design by Mannerist painter Francesco Salvi (Francesco de' Rossi This second state of six captures the biblical scene from the Gospel of Luke, where the Virgin Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, both radiant with divine joy amid attendants, children, men, and women. Salviati's elegant, elongated figures and dynamic compositions reflect the sophisticated Mannerism of mid-16th-century Italy, bridging Renaissance harmony with emerging stylistic grace. Engravings like this were revolu...
About the Artist
Giorgio Ghisi|Francesco Salviati (Francesco de' Rossi) · 1520–1582
Giorgio Ghisi (c. 1520–1582) was one of the most accomplished engravers of the Italian Renaissance, renowned for translating the monumental compositions of Raphael, Giulio Romano, and Michelangelo into the exacting medium of the burin. Born in Mantua, he trained in an environment shaped by the legacy of Giulio Romano's decoration of the Palazzo del Te, and the grandeur of that Mannerist tradition ...