The Visitation

This scene is located in the centre of the right wall, between Jacopino’s The Annunciation to Zachariah and Salviati’s Birth of St John the Baptist.

Salviati’s four frescoes are the outstanding works of the cycle in the oratory. Among these his contemporaries already considered the Visitation to be of the highest order, as noted by Vasari and confirmed by the numerous copies and printed reproductions made of this scene. Depictions of the visit made by the pregnant Mary to Elizabeth had a long tradition in Florence, whether it was in cycles of John the Baptist or of Mary. Examples are Domenico Ghirlandaio’ fresco in the Tornabuoni Chapel in Santa Maria Novella, and Pontormo’s fresco in the Santissima Annunziata.