The Visitation

Lucas van Leyden · 1520
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Lucas van Leyden engraved this very small plate, about 11 cm high, in 1520. Two figures fill it; the sky behind them is made of plain horizontal lines.

Mary and Elizabeth meet and embrace, cheek to cheek. Elizabeth, older and veiled, takes Mary’s hands. Mary, young with long loose hair, holds a traveller’s staff.

From the text

Mary hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah (Luke 1:39)

She entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth (Luke 1:40)

“Blessed are you among women” (Luke 1:42)

The artist’s own

A walking staff for the journey

No house and no town — only the two women and a low hill

Elizabeth veiled, Mary with loose hair, as painters usually showed them

Details

Elizabeth

The older woman, veiled, leans to Mary.

Mary

Young, with long loose hair.

Hands

They hold each other’s hands.

The staff

Mary’s walking staff after the journey.

Lucas van Leyden, Netherlandish, c. 1489/94–1533. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1992.25.1) · Engraving on laid paper · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)

The verses

Luke 1:39–45In those days Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah, where she entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord’s word to her will be fulfilled.”