Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Visitation
  • Creator: Ghirlandaio, Domenico, painter
  • Description: In a fifteenth-century cityscape, the Virgin and St. Elizabeth embrace before a number of female spectators. To the extreme right are three women who wear fifteenth-century clothing. Among them, the richly dressed young woman in the lead, is Giovanna degli Albizzi, wife of Lorenzo Tornabuoni and daughter-in-law of Giovanni Tornabuoni who commissioned the painting. The painting serves as a memorial since Giovanna had died in childbirth in 1488. The Visitation reveals inspiration from both Classical and Netherlandish art: the building to the far right displays sculpted mythological scenes, while the two figures leaning over a wall with their backs to the viewer are a borrowing from works such as van Eyck’s St. Luke Painting the Virgin.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Architecture Classical Influences Elizabeth (Biblical Figure) Mary, Virgin, Saint- Visitation Tornabuoni, Florentine Family Tornabuoni, Giovanna, Wife of Lorenzo Tornabuoni
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 15
  • Date: 1486-1490
  • Related Work: Tornabuoni Chapel. See selected paintings from the chapel:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornabuoni_Chapel. See also Ghirlandaio's postumous portrait of Giovanna degli Albizzi Tornabuoni indexed in Feminae: http://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/DetailsPage.aspx?Feminae_ID=28729
  • Current Location: Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Tornabuoni Chapel, right wall
  • Original Location: Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Tornabuoni Chapel, right wall
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital Images; Paintings
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Frescoes
  • Donor: Layman; Giovanni Tornabuoni, Florentine merchant, ambassador to papal court, director of Medici bank
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): /ca. 450 cm /
  • Inscription:
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