The Visitation with Saint Nicholas and Saint Anthony Abbot

c. 1489/1490

Piero di Cosimo

Artist, Florentine, 1462 - 1522

Two women stand clasping hands between two seated men, all against a deep landscape with hills and a town in this nearly square painting. Dozens of people are gathered in the town to our right, and several cluster in front of a building to our left. All the people have pale, peachy skin. Close to us, the two women both have translucent, plate-like halos. They stand with their bodies angled toward each other, and they look at each other. The woman to our left, Mary, has smooth skin with a delicate profile. She wears a gold-edged, ultramarine-blue robe lined with forest green over a long-sleeved, ruby-red dress. Sandaled toes peek under the hem. An eggshell-white and gold scarf drapes over her blond hair, which is pulled back, and over her shoulders. Leaning toward her companion, Mary gazes directly into the eyes of the older woman, Elizabeth. They clasp their right hands, and Mary touches Elizabeth’s shoulder. They stand close together, so only a sliver of the background landscape is visible between their cloaks. Elizabeth wears a maroon-red dress mostly covered by a wine-red cloak that wraps around her body. Her opaque, white scarf drapes over her head and ties loosely on her chest. Her free, left hand is raised, the palm facing Mary. The women stand on a slightly raised platform as the elderly men sit on either side, their bodies angled toward the women. Both men have faint, barely visible halos floating over their balding heads. They have fringes of gray hair and long, gray beards. Their foreheads are deeply lined with wrinkles, and they look down long, straight noses at their laps. To our left, the man wears a scarlet-red cloak over a harvest-yellow garment with gray sleeves. He hunches over a book in his lap. Three gold balls lie next to him, near Mary’s feet. On our right, the second man wears black, round spectacles perched on his nose. The hood of his black robe lies across his shoulders, over an olive-green cape. The cape has gold trim, and the underside is scarlet red. He writes on a narrow piece of parchment with a quill on a closed, blue-covered book. He braces the book and an ink pot with one hand, and a leather pouch hangs from a cord in that hand. At his feet lie an iron-colored bell, a wooden cane, and a brown book. A single sprig of garnet-red flowers lies on the stone floor between the two men. Beyond the four people, the sand-colored land dips down between the town to our right and the building to our left. Dozens of women holding babies struggle against men with swords on a platform in the town. Four people look on from windows above, and buildings continue into the distance along high, steep hills. One of the buildings there is topped by a cross, and the side of that structure is painted with a scene showing a kneeling, winged angel holding a white lily toward a woman dressed in green, who kneels and crosses her arms over her chest. To our left and deep in the shadow cast by a tall building there, a woman and several men gather and some kneel around a baby. Beyond, the land extends to body of vivid blue water, which leads back to a pale blue mountain in the deep distance. A few puffy clouds float across the sky above, which deepens from powder blue along the top edge to nearly white along the horizon.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

The central scene of the eccentric Florentine artist Piero di Cosimo's Visitation depicts the meeting of the Virgin Mary and the elderly Saint Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Saint Nicholas on the left, identified by his attribute of three gold balls alluding to his charity towards the daughters of an impoverished nobleman, and Saint Anthony Abbot on the right, identified by his cane, bell and ever-present pig, sit in the foreground as studious witnesses to the event. Additional scenes relating to the birth of Christ are depicted in the background: the Annunciation painted on a distant church wall, the Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds on the left, and the Massacre of the Innocents in the middle ground.

Piero's Visitation has an unbroken history, having been first described in 1550 by the artist-biographer Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as an altarpiece painted for the Capponi family chapel in the church of Santo Spirito in Florence. The heightened realism of the painting probably has its source in Flemish art, in vogue in Florence at the time. Piero's composition, with a main central group and a saint on either side, recalls the traditional triptych format. However, its pyramidal quality, with the saints forming a base and the heads of Mary and Elizabeth as the apex, reflects the influence of recent work by Leonardo da Vinci.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 19

Order reproductions from the Gallery Shop

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 184.2 x 188.6 cm (72 1/2 x 74 1/4 in.)
    framed: 235.6 x 250.2 x 12.1 cm (92 3/4 x 98 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.361

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Commissioned 1489/1490 for the Cappella Capponi of San Niccolò, Santo Spirito, Florence; moved 1713 to the Villa Capponi a Legnaia, near Florence. The Hon. Mrs. Frederick West [c. 1772-1843, née Maria Myddelton, the second wife of Frederick West], Chirk Castle, south of Wrexham, Wales; by inheritance to her son, Frederick Richard West [1799-1862], Chirk Castle, and Ruthin Castle, west of Wrexham, Wales; by inheritance to his son, William Cornwallis Cornwallis-West [1835-1917], Ruthin Castle, and Newlands Manor, Milford on Sea, near Lymington, Hampshire. (Thomas Agnew & Sons, London); (Duveen Brothers, Inc., New York), by 1933; sold 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2356.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1891

  • Old Masters Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, 1891, no. 154.

1933

  • Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century, Detroit Institute of Art, 1933, no. 40.

1939

  • Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 284, repro.

2015

  • Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015, no. 6 (English catalogue), no. 12 (Italian catalogue), repros.

Bibliography

1754

  • Richa, Giuseppe. Notizie storiche delle chiese fiorentine. 10 vols. Florence, 1754-1762: 9(1761):22.

1878

  • Vasari, Giorgio. Le vite dei più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori. Ed. by Gaetano Milanesi. 9 vols. Florence, 1878-1885: 4(1879):133.

1899

  • Knapp, Frtiz. Piero di Cosimo: sein Leben und seine Werke. Halle, 1899: 35-39, pl. 1.

1900

  • Haberfeld, Hugo. "Piero di Cosimo." Ph.D. diss., Universität Breslau, 1900: 54-57.

1901

  • Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 7(1911):706.

1903

  • Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. A History of Painting in Italy. 6 vols. Ed. Robert Langton Douglas (vols. 1-4) and Tancred Borenius (vols. 5-6). London, 1903-1914: 4(1914):48.

  • Berenson, Bernard. The Drawings of the Florentine Painters. 2 vols. London, 1903: 1:131. 2:130, no. 1853.

1909

  • Berenson, Bernard. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. 3rd ed. London, 1909: 165.

1920

  • Borenius, Tancred. “Two Tondos by Piero di Cosimo in Sweden.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 36, no. 204 (March 1920): 102.

1923

  • Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 13(1931): 350.

1932

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932: 454.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Milan and New York, 1931: 2:cat.287.

1936

  • Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936: 390.

1938

  • Berenson, Bernard. The Drawings of the Florentine Painters. 3 vols. Chicago, 1938: 1:150, 151. 2:257. 3:fig. 419.

1940

  • Paatz, Walter, and Elisabeth Paatz. Die Kirchen von Florenz: ein kunstgeschichtliches Handbuch. 6 vols. Frankfurt am Main, 1940-1954: 5(1953):156.

  • Suida, Wilhelm. "Die Sammlung Kress: New York." Pantheon 26 (1940): 274.

1941

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 125, repro.

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 153, no. 454, as The Visitation with Two Saints.

  • Richter, George Martin. "The New National Gallery in Washington." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 78 (June 1941): 177.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 248, repro. 167, as The Visitation with Two Saints.

1944

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 42, color repro., as The Visitation with Two Saints.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: repro. nos. 40, 90

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 60, repro., as The Visitation with Two Saints.

1946

  • Douglas, Robert Langton. Piero di Cosimo. Chicago, 1946: 41-45, 83, 90, 98-99, 120, 125, 129, pls. XX, XXI.

1957

  • Morselli, Paolo. “Ragioni di un pittore fiorentino: Piero di Cosimo.” L’ Arte 22 (1957): 140.

1958

  • Morselli, Paolo. “Piero di Cosimo, saggio di un catalogo delle opere.” L’ Arte 23 (1958): 86.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 74, repro., as The Visitation with Two Saints.

  • Zeri, Federico. “Rivedendo Piero di Cosimo.” Paragone 115 (1959): 42, 44, 45, 46, 48.

1961

  • Berenson, Bernard. I disegni dei pittori fiorentini. 3 vols. Milan, 1961: 1:223; 2:430; 3:fig. 350.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 87, repro., as The Visitation and Two Saints.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:177.

  • Covi, Dario A. “Lettering in Fifteenth Century Florentine Painting.” The Art Bulletin 45 (1963): 15, 16-17.

  • Grassi, Luigi. Piero di Cosimo e il problema della conversione al ‘500 nella pittura fiorentina ed emiliana. Rome, 1963: 53+.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 103.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:58, color repro.

  • Bacci, Mina. Piero di Cosimo. Milan, 1966: 24, 26-27, 71, cat. 8.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 91, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 118, fig. 286.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 164, 646.

1973

  • Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 79.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 268, repro.

  • Craven, Stephanie J. “Three Dates for Piero di Cosimo.” The Burlington Magazine 117, no. 870 (September 1975): 572, 576, fig. 7.

1976

  • Bacci, Mina. L’opera completa di Piero di Cosimo. Milan, 1976: 8, 88, cat. 13, pls. V-VIII.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:369-371; 2:pl. 268.

  • Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 28, pl. 12.

1983

  • Castelfranchi Vegas, Liana. Italia e Fiandra nella pittura del Quattrocento. Milan, 1983: 227.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 102, no. 70, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 312, repro.

1986

  • Ford, Terrence, compiler and ed. Inventory of Music Iconography, no. 1. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York 1986: 2, no. 27.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 156, color repro.

  • Capretti, Elena. The Building Complex of Santo Spirito. Florence, 1991: 35.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 25, repro.

  • Santucci, Paola. La Pittura del Quattrocento. Torino, 1992: 220, repro.

1993

  • Fermor, Sharon. Piero di Cosimo: Fiction, Invention and Fantasia. London, 1993: 13-14, 39, 123, 125, 134, 169-170, fig. 87.

  • Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 812, fig. 1024.

1995

  • Santucci, Paola. “Un’ipotesi per Polito del Donzello.” In Francesco Abbate and Fiorella Sricchia Santoro, eds. Napoli, l’Europa: Ricerche di Storia dell’Arte in onore di Ferdinando Bologna. Catanzaro, 1995: 125.

1996

  • Pons, Nicoletta. “Arcangelo di Jacopo del Sellaio.” Arte Cristiana 84 (1996): 380.

  • Capretti, Elena, and Anna Forlani Tempesti. Piero di Cosimo: catalogo completo. Florence, 1996: 104-105, cat. 12.

  • Capretti, Elena. “Antefatti della Controriforma in Santo Spirito: Tipologia, iconografia e sviluppo dell’altare, dalla ‘Visitazione’ di Piero di Cosimo all’altar maggiore del Caccini.” In Anna Forlani Tempesti, ed. Altari e immagini nello spazio ecclesiale: progetti e realizzazioni fra Firenze e Bologna nell’età della Controriforma. Florence, 1996: 45-51, figs. 2, 4, 5.

  • Capretti, Elena. “La pinacoteca sacra.” In Cristina Acidini Luchinat, ed. La chiesa e il convento di Santo Spirito a Firenze. Florence, 1996: 282-283, fig. 23.

1997

  • FIDELIO, Journal of Poetry, Science, and Statecraft, Washington, DC., 1997, front cover, repro.

  • Cavazzini, Laura. "Un documento ritrovato e qualche osservazione sul percorso di Piero di Cosimo." Prospettiva nos. 87/88 (July - October 1997): 125, 126.

1998

  • Faxon, Alicia Craig. “Visiting/Visitation." In _Helene E. Roberts, ed. Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:927.

1999

  • Beck, James H. Italian Renaissance Painting. Cologne, 1991: 332-333, fig. 282.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 33-34, no. 23, color repro.

2006

  • Geronimus, Dennis. Piero di Cosimo: Visions Beautiful and Strange. New Haven and London, 2006: 17, 28, 40, 44, 55, 83, 125, 164, 170, 198-204, 207, 326 n. 36, fig. 156.

2007

  • Westergård, Ira. _ Approaching Sacred Pregnancy: The Cult of the Visitation and Narrative Altarpieces in Late Fifteenth-Century Florence_. Helsinki, 2007: 123-124, 160-193, fig. 28, pl. 4.

2010

  • Tazartes, Maurizia. Piero di Cosimo “ingegno astratto e difforme.” Florence, 2010: 48-57, repro.

2012

  • Fiorenza, Giancarlo. “Tadpoles, Caterpillars and Mermaids: Piero di Cosimo’s Poetic Nature.” In Melinda Schlitt, ed. Gifts in Return: Essays in Honour of Charles Dempsey. Toronto, 2012: 156 n. 9.

2013

  • "Vasari and the National Gallery of Art." National Gallery of Art Bulletin 48 (Spring 2013): 12-13, repro.

  • Walmsley, Elizabeth. "Italian Renaissance Paintings Restored in Paris by Duveen Brothers, Inc., c. 1927-1929." Facture: conservation, science, art history 1 (2013): 58-77, fig. 7.

2014

  • Kennicott, Philip. “An Enigmatic Giant of Renaissance Art Will Get D.C. Show.” Washington Post 137, no. 232 (July 25, 2014): C6, color fig.

  • Hirschauer, Gretchen A. "Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 51 (Fall 2014): 30-31, repro.

  • Chiodo, Sonia, and Serena Padovani, eds. The Alana Collection, Newark, Delaware, USA. Vol. III: Italian Paintings from the 14th to 16th Century. Florence, 2014: 226, 233.

2015

  • Silver, Nathaniel. “Review. Piero di Cosimo: Washington and Florence.” The Burlington Magazine 57, no. 1346 (May 2015): 377, fig. 98.

  • Geronimus, Dennis. “Plainspoken Piety: Drama and the Poetry of the Everyday in Piero’s Devotional Works.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 27-28.

  • Padovani, Serena. “Piero and Portraiture.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 39, 42, 45.

  • Hirschauer, Gretchen A. ““Building Castles in the Air”: The Story of Piero di Cosimo.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 2, 3, 8-9.

  • Luchs, Alison. “Creatures Great, Small, and Hybrid: The Natural and Unnatural Wonders in Piero’s Art.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 62, 68.

  • Walmsley, Elizabeth. ““A Very Rich and Beautiful Effect”: Piero’s Painting Technique.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 72, 75, 76-78, figs. 4, 7.

  • Brilliant, Virginia. “Piero di Cosimo in America.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 88, 89.

  • Padovani, Serena. “La mostra su Piero di Cosimo: una proposta per il suo percorso nel contesto contemporaneo.” In Elena Capretti et al, eds. Piero di Cosimo 1462-1522: Pittore eccentrico fra Rinascimento e Maniera. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015: 31, 32, 33, fig. 12.

  • Forlani Tempesti, Anna. “Piero di Cosimo: i disegni.” In Elena Capretti et al, eds. Piero di Cosimo 1462-1522: Pittore eccentrico fra Rinascimento e Maniera. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015: 45, 49.

  • Capretti, Elena. ““Fece in Fiorenza molti quadri a più cittadini, sparsi per le loro case”: Venere, Marte e Cupido e altri dipinti da camera con “storie di favole”.” In Elena Capretti et al, eds. Piero di Cosimo 1462-1522: Pittore eccentrico fra Rinascimento e Maniera. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015: 99.

  • Cecchi, Alessandro. “Piero di Cosimo e Filippino, affinità e differenze.” In Elena Capretti et al, eds. Piero di Cosimo 1462-1522: Pittore eccentrico fra Rinascimento e Maniera. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015: 124, 132, fig. 1.

  • Walmsley, Elizabeth. “Come dipingeva Piero. Nota sulla tecnica pittorica.” In Elena Capretti et al, eds. Piero di Cosimo 1462-1522: Pittore eccentrico fra Rinascimento e Maniera. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015: 185, 190, 192, figs. 1, 10.

2017

  • Röstel, Alexander. “Review of Exhibition. The Liberation of Piero di Cosimo.” Renaissance Studies 31, no. 4 (September 2017): 635, 638, 640.

  • Schumacher, Andreas, ed. Florentiner Malerei. Alte Pinakothek: Die Gemälde des 14. bis 16. Jahrhunderts. Munich, 2017: 484, fig. 32.7.

  • Serres, Karen. "Duveen's Italian framemaker, Ferruccio Vannoni." The Burlington Magazine 159, no. 1370 (May 2017): 373 n. 40.

2019

  • Walmsley, Elizabeth. “Deconstructing the Underdrawing in Piero di Cosimo’s Construction of a Palace.” In Dennis Geronimus and Michael W. Kwakkelstein, eds. Piero di Cosimo: Painter of Faith and Fable. Leiden, 2019: 267-270, 282-283, figs. 11.3, 11.4, 11.5.

  • Cadogan, Jean. “Piero and Ghirlandaio: Drawing the Figure.” In Dennis Geronimus and Michael W. Kwakkelstein, eds. Piero di Cosimo: Painter of Faith and Fable. Leiden, 2019: 238.

  • Nuttall, Paula. “Piero di Cosimo and Netherlandish Painting.” In Dennis Geronimus and Michael W. Kwakkelstein, eds. Piero di Cosimo: Painter of Faith and Fable. Leiden, 2019: 212, 214-215, 220-221, fig. 9.2.

  • Nethersole, Scott. Art of Renaissance Florence: A City and Its Legacy. London, 2019: 92, fig. 55.

2020

  • Fondaras, Antonia. Augustinian Art and Meditation in Renaissance Florence: The Choir Altarpieces of Santo Spirito 1480-1510. Leiden, 2020: 6, 71-72, 81, 93, 96, 100, 117, 121, 131, 133-134, 136, 163-215, 222, 272, 301, 310, 312, 315, figs. 5.1, 5.2, 5.3.

2021

  • Ekserdjian, David. The Italian Renaissance Altarpiece: Between Icon and Narrative. New Haven and London, 2021: 315.

2022

  • Conservation Division's Fiftieth Anniversary Committee. "Innovation and Collaboration: Fifty Years of Conservation at the National Gallery." Art for the Nation no. 66 (Fall 2022): 8, fig. 8.

2024

  • McHam, Sarah Blake. Piero di Cosimo: Eccentricity and Delight. London, 2024: 98-99, 101, 119-127, figs. 33, 45.

Wikidata ID

Q4014808

You may be interested in

Loading Results