New setting of Pontormo's Visitation

New setting of Pontormo's Visitation has been inaugurated at the Medici Villa in Poggio a Caiano. The painting has been placed in the Hall of the Frieze, a short distance from the Hall of Leo X, where is located another of the artist's masterpieces, the fresco Vertumnus and Pomona, painted in 1520-21.
The oil on canvas was painted by the artist in 1528-1529 for the chapel of the Pinadori, a family of anti-Medici apothecaries, inside the Pieve di Carmignano. The Pinadori were also suppliers of artists' paints and thus had the opportunity to meet Pontormo through Ludovico Capponi and the Confraternity of San Sebastiano.

The work depicts the intense moment of encounter between the Virgin Mary, shown at left, and her cousin Elizabeth, who reveal to each other that both are pregnant. Mary is pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth with John the Baptist. According to Catholic tradition, this visit, recorded in the Gospel of Luke, was believed to bring divine grace to both Elizabeth and her unborn child, who recognized the presence of Jesus.
Breaking with traditional iconography, Pontormo created a deeply personal version of the miraculous encounter. The event takes place on the streets of the town where Mary had gone to stay with her cousin. Pontormo eliminated most of the narrative details of the encounter and instead focused on the two sacred figures, accompanied by their female attendants, in fluttering garments and with their heels raised in motion. In the background is a cityscape that depicts the door to the house at the far right along with buildings on the left that frame the scene. Two tradesmen engaged in conversation linger in the bottom left corner, while a Florentine housekeeper hangs a cloth from the window of a once-abandoned palazzo. 

In this altarpiece, Pontormo captured both the human and spiritual elements of the encounter in a composition that has influenced artists from De Chirico to Bill Viola. In 1995, american artist Bill Viola, after accidentally seeing the work reproduced on the cover of a book, was so captivated by it that he created The Greeting, an audio-video installation that pays homage to the painting. To emphasize the mystery of the encounter between the women, Bill Viola employed extreme slow motion, dilating a forty-five-second action into a ten-minute video. The impact of Pontormo’s poetics was such that in 2013 Viola wanted to write a dedication to the great Florentine master, with the touching conclusion “with gratitude and respect”.

The Visitation can be admired along the usual visit , from Tuesday to Sunday, with admission every hour from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm. Free reservation is required, calling the phone number +39 055 877012.