The Visitation (La visitation)

James Tissot · 1886–1894
Brooklyn Museum, New York

Tissot travelled in Palestine in 1886 and 1889, filling sketchbooks and taking photographs; in these pictures he dressed the people of the Gospels in clothes like those he had seen there. Here Mary arrives at Zechariah’s house in the hill country.

At the garden gate, under flowering branches, Elizabeth bends to embrace the young Mary. Old Zechariah, white-bearded, steps up behind them, and at the left a servant waits with the donkey that carried her.

From the text

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

She enters the home of Zechariah and greets Elizabeth (Luke 1:40)

The artist’s own

Zechariah at the gate — the text does not say he was there

The servant and the donkey of the journey

Details

Mary

A young woman in a white headcloth, her hand on her breast.

Elizabeth

An older woman with a long dark veil leans close to embrace her.

Zechariah

The white-bearded priest comes up behind, one hand raised.

The donkey

Through the gate, a servant stands by a white donkey.

James Tissot, French, 1836–1902. Brooklyn Museum, New York (Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.18) · Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper · Brooklyn Museum (Commons file page, «Permission»): "This image was uploaded by the Brooklyn Museum as a content partnership, and is considered to have no known copyright restrictions by the institutions of the Brooklyn Museum." — "No known copyright restrictions".

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.”