This
painting was in the church of S. Francesco al Monte and was probably painted
in 1534, although there are experts who deem it to be a few years older. Differently
from the frescos on the same subject painted in the church of S: Michele al
Pozzo in Bergamo, here the Virgin Mary shows a revering attitude towards the
older Elisabeth.
Lotto is able to portray the slightest moods and fits, expressed through multiple and intense gestures and looks. The attention is focused on the characters' hands: Mary's hands, affectionately holding her cousin's; the sisters' hand (therefore, Lotto follows the Nordic tradition, encompassing the legend of the late Middle Ages envisaging the existence of Mary Cleofe and Mary Salomè) holding some cloths; the hands of the disconcerted Zachary, standing on the threshold of a totally female world, where the miracle of life is taking place.
In the lunette of the Visitation it is proposed once again the theme of the meeting between God's will and human destiny.
he Virgin Mary, listening to God with her hands crossed on her breast, appears very human. Therefore, Lotto does not represent the dismay due to the supernatural event, since it is not perceived as an interruption of the natural order but as a constant presence of God in man's everyday life.
This explains the artist's accuracy in painting domestic environments, as well as his choice of portraying the Virgin Mary as a simple, ordinary girl reminding the Annunciation in Recanati.
The Virgin Mary seems to be attentive and conscious of the importance and difficulty of the task she has been assigned, and it seems that she already divines the death of the son.
Jesi-Pinacoteca Civica,
from the church of di San Francesco al Monte.
VISITAZIONE
Oli on board, cm 154 ´ 152
Lunette, cm 103 ´ 132