The Visitation
- Artist: Lorenzo Monaco
- Date: c. 1409
- Medium: tempera on panel
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “The Visitation” by Lorenzo Monaco, created around 1409 in tempera on panel. The work is a small panel, but its story is large. It shows the Virgin Mary still pregnant, standing outside her modest home. She is greeted by her cousin Elizabeth, who has already given birth, and the scene captures the quiet exchange of awe and hope that the biblical text describes.
Monaco uses gentle, flowing lines to frame the figures. Notice how the Virgin’s robes seem to follow the panel’s slight curvature—he designed the composition to fit the original moulding of the altarpiece base. The panel was once part of a larger triptych, with two other surviving pieces that completed the narrative. Later, the panels were cut out and sold individually, but you can still trace the intended flow from the Visitation to the Adoration of the Magi.
Later in the cycle, three wise men—represented with bright robes and lavish gifts—arrive to honor the newborn Christ. That moment is placed after the Visitation in the overall structure, giving the altarpiece a coherent spiritual journey from anticipation to celebration.
The painting is a testament to Monaco’s skill in combining storytelling with architectural sensitivity, all within the modest yet evocative tempera technique.
See it in person
The Visitation hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
