Description
The Visitation is Rembrandt’s painting of 1640: the pregnant Mary arrives at the house of her cousin Elizabeth, who embraces her outside, moonlight falls on both women, and old Zechariah comes down the steps to greet them. The original, oil on a cedar panel with a rounded top, is 56.5 cm high and 47.9 cm wide and is in the Detroit Institute of Arts. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas in one portrait size, 100 x 120 cm, or to your own measurement, and before dispatch you receive a photograph, so you see the painting before it arrives.
| Title: | The Visitation |
| Other titles: | Die Heimsuchung · De visitatie |
| Painter: | Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) |
| Year painted: | 1640, Amsterdam |
| Original size: | 56.5 cm x 47.9 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on cedar panel |
| Painting style: | Baroque, Dutch Golden Age |
| Located at: | Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit (acc. 27.200) |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, one size (100 x 120 cm) or made to measure |
The Visitation – Rembrandt
What does The Visitation show?
A scene from the Gospel of Luke: Mary, who is expecting Jesus, visits her older cousin Elizabeth, who is miraculously also expecting a child. In the centre the two women embrace on a round stone platform, Elizabeth with a cane in her hand, Mary upright and calm.
Behind Mary a Black servant takes off her green cloak. On the left old Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband, leans on a boy as he comes down the steps of the house. At the front left stands a peacock with hens, a little dog is beside the women, a man with a donkey is at the lower right, and a town on a hill lies in the distance.
Why did Rembrandt set the scene at night?
The Detroit museum describes a meeting by night: a ray of moonlight dramatically lights the two women, while the rest stays in the dark green dusk of trees and ruins. So Rembrandt turns an everyday visit into a moment full of mystery.
The museum adds that Rembrandt often included Black figures in biblical and mythological scenes, reflecting the interest of Dutch viewers of his time in the west coast of Africa.
Where did Rembrandt sign the painting?
On the stone step at the lower centre, which reads “Rembrandt 1640”. The signature is easy to see, just below the feet of the two women.
In 1640 Rembrandt was at the height of his success in Amsterdam: two years later he finished The Night Watch.
What path did the painting take to Detroit?
The museum record lists it in the inventory of Rembrandt’s collection at his bankruptcy in 1656. After that it belonged to the burgomaster of Goes, to Prince Eugene of Savoy in Vienna and to the King of Sardinia in Turin; around 1800 the French probably took it to Paris.
From 1812 it spent a century in the Grosvenor collection in London, later the Dukes of Westminster, in 1913 it went to Alfred de Rothschild, and since 1927 it has been in the Detroit Institute of Arts, bought with city funds.
How do we paint the rounded top?
The panel of the original is rounded at the top, so in the photograph the upper corners outside the arch are black. Our painter carries the arch onto the rectangular canvas as it is painted in the original and fills the outer corners with the dark green-brown of the trees, so that the painting reads as one whole on the wall.
The Visitation is a canvas painting for a young family expecting a child, for a bedroom or for a place of prayer. From the same gospel come The Adoration of the Shepherds and Simeon’s Song of Praise, the story goes on in The Flight into Egypt, and The Return of the Prodigal Son also speaks of family and coming home. The Visitation sits with all the other famous Rembrandt paintings we offer on the Rembrandt page.
How does the painter paint your Visitation?
This Rembrandt reproduction begins with the background: in oil on canvas the painter first lays in the dark green treetops and the brown columns, then the stone steps, and only at the end the pale faces of the women in the moonlight.
Last come the small things: the peacock’s feathers, the little dog and the signature on the step. An oil painting reproduction like this has a depth and a sheen that a paper print does not.
Which size is right?
The original is 47.9 cm wide and 56.5 cm high. We offer one portrait size (width x height): 100 x 120 cm, about twice the original in each direction.
At 100 x 120 cm this is a large painting for a large wall: as a painting for the living room it carries the wall above the sofa, and it also suits a hall, an office or a large wall above a double bed.
Because of its dark tones, hang it where daylight reaches it.
Is another size possible, and which frame?
Yes. The Visitation is about 5 : 6 in proportion, and it stays the same in every size so that the arch and the steps remain whole. Tell us which size of The Visitation you need and we will give you a price and a date.
We send The Visitation rolled, on a stretcher bar or framed; our workshop in Slovenia prepares every painting for shipping. You compare frames for The Visitation in the 3D application, which is only for that; seeing it on your own wall is another service. A warm gold frame brings out the moonlight on the faces, dark walnut the night around them.
When will the painting be home?
We paint The Visitation for you to order and dispatch it within 15 to 45 working days; the parcel with The Visitation travels customs-free across the EU. When the painting is finished you receive a photograph and can ask for a change; our returns policy applies to every order.
As a gift for a mother-to-be who should choose the size herself, there is the wall art voucher.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original Visitation?
In the Detroit Institute of Arts in the United States, accession number 27.200.
Who is in the painting?
Mary and Elizabeth embracing, Zechariah on the steps, a boy, a servant, and a man with a donkey in the background.
Where is the signature?
On the step at the lower centre: “Rembrandt 1640”.
Why are the corners above the arch black in the photograph?
Because the panel of the original is rounded at the top; we paint them in the dark tones of the background.
Is your Visitation a print?
No, it is a hand-painted copy in oil on canvas, done with a brush.
Which size is closest to the original?
We offer one size, 100 x 120 cm, about twice the original; a size closer to it can be made to measure.
Which size suits a bedroom?
At 100 x 120 cm it suits a large wall above a double bed.
Who would like The Visitation as a gift?
A mother-to-be, a young family or a cousin you are close to.
- Subject: Mary and Elizabeth embrace in the moonlight while old Zechariah comes down the steps.
- Original: 1640, oil on a cedar panel with a rounded top, 56.5 x 47.9 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts.
- Ours: painted by hand in oil on canvas, in one portrait size, 100 x 120 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: in 1656 the painting was in Rembrandt’s own collection.
