''The Visitation'' () is a 1506

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not pain ...

by Hungarian painter known as

Master MS Master M. S. (, , ) was a 16th-century painter in Central Europe in late Gothic art, Gothic and early Renaissance art. He was active in Banská Štiavnica, Selmecbánya (now Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia) in the Kingdom of Hungary, and probably l ...

in the collection of the

Hungarian National Gallery The Hungarian National Gallery (also known as Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, ), was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the w ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

.MS mester, Vizitáció
on museum website
on

Europeana Europeana is a web portal created by the European Union containing digitised cultural heritage collections of more than 3,000 institutions across Europe. It includes records of over 50 million cultural and scientific artefacts, brought togethe ...

website

Analysis

This medieval Hungarian painting shows the Visitation of

St. Elisabeth Elizabeth of Hungary (, , ; 7 July 120717 November 1231), also known as Elisabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and the landgravine of Thuringia. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her hus ...

and the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. All the natural elements that are depicted are in praise of the Lord. This idyll, however, is just an illusion - the bare rocks, twisted trees, beautiful and delicate flowers - iris, peony, strawberries in the foreground, are subtle symbols of the passion. Elizabeth makes homage to the Virgin Mary to show her devotion by slightly raising her left hand to kiss her. The painting once hung in the Church of Saint Catherine in Selmecbánya (today

Banská Štiavnica Banská Štiavnica (; ; , ) is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. For its size, the caldera is known as the Štiavnica Mountains. Banská Štiavnica has a population of ...

, Slovakia). Other paintings from the altar of the church are kept in

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, France,

Svätý Anton Svätý Anton (; ) is a village in Banská Štiavnica District in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. It is situated near the historic town of Banská Štiavnica. During the period of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Communist Czechos ...

in Slovakia and the Christian Museum in

Esztergom Esztergom (; ; or ; , known by Names of European cities in different languages: E–H#E, alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the righ ...

, Hungary. The inscription has been identified as being the same as that on an altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. It is believed that MS was Marten Swarcz.Paintings of the Passion by Master M.S. in the Christian Museum of

, English translation of the book by Miklos Mojzer by Lili Halapy (44P), File:Banská Štiavnica 40326.jpg, Church of St. Catherine, Banská Štiavnica File:Master M S - The Visitation (detail) - WGA14336.jpg, The Kiss, detail

Others from the Church of St. Catherine

File:Master M S - The Adoration of the Magi - WGA14338.jpg, ''The Adoration of the Magi'',

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (''Lille Palace of Fine Arts'') is a municipal museum dedicated to fine arts, modern art, and antiquities located in Lille. It is one of the largest art museums in France. It was one of the first museums built i ...

File:Master MS Birth of Jesus (1500-1510).jpg, ''Birth of Jesus'', Parish Church of Antol,

File:M. S. mester Keresztvitel (1500-10).jpg, ''Carrying the Cross'', Christian Museum File:M. S. mester Calvary (1500-10).jpg, ''Calvary'', Christian Museum File:M. S. mester Resurrection (1500-1510).jpg, ''Resurrection'', Christian Museum

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visitation Paintings in the Hungarian National Gallery Paintings of the Visitation 1506 paintings