Meeting between the Virgin Mary and Saint Elizabeth with Saint Joseph and Zechariah, 17th century

Our painting by an anonymous 17th-century Italian artist is a beautiful depiction of the Gospel episode of the Visitation. Here, Mary, pregnant with Jesus, visits her older cousin Elizabeth, mother of the Precursor, who immediately recognizes the Messiah in the Virgin's womb. In the painting, the postures of the Mothers are echoed by those of their husbands, Saints Joseph and Zechariah, thus structuring the painting into two rhythmically coherent halves.