The Visitation

Elisabeth has gone down on her knees before the younger woman, and Mary bends to raise her up. Two companions stand to the left and right. Through the arch behind them one looks down on a city.

Lorenzo Tornabuoni ordered the altarpiece for his family chapel in the Florentine church of Cestello. The inscriptions above name the two companions: Mary the mother of James, and Mary Salome. Elisabeth's kneeling says what her words say in Luke: “And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”