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1.  The earliest representation of the Visitation to which I can refer is a rude but not ungraceful drawing, in the Catacombs at Rome, of two women embracing.  It is not of very high antiquity, perhaps the seventh or eighth century, but there can be so doubt about the subject.  (Cemetery of Julius, v.  Bosio, Roma sotterana.)

2.  Cimabue has followed the Greek formula, and his simple group appears to me to have great feeling and simplicity.

3.  More modern instances, from the date of the revival of art, abound in every form.  Almost every painter who has treated subjects from the life of the Virgin has treated the Visitation.  In the composition by Raphael (Madrid Gal.) there are the two figures only; and I should object to this otherwise perfect picture, the bashful conscious look of the Virgin Mary.  The heads are, however, eminently beautiful and dignified.  In the far background is seen the Baptism of Christ—­very happily and significantly introduced, not merely as expressing the name of the votary who dedicated the picture, Giovan-Battista Branconio, but also as expressing the relation between the two unborn Children—­the Christ and his Prophet.

4.  The group by Sebastian del Piombo is singularly grand, showing in every part the influence of Michael Angelo, but richly coloured in Sebastian’s best manner.  The figures are seen only to the knees.  In the background, Zacharias is seen hurrying down some steps to receive the Virgin.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Louvre, 1224.  There is, in the Louvre, another Visitation of singular and characteristic beauty by D. Ghirlandajo.]

5.  The group by Pinturicchio, with the attendant angels, is remarkable for its poetic grace; and that by Lucas v.  Leyden is equally remarkable for affectionate sentiment.

6.  Still more beautiful, and more dramatic and varied, is another composition by Pinturicchio in the Sala Borgia. (Vatican, Rome.) The Virgin and St. Elizabeth, in the centre, take each other’s hands.  Behind the Virgin is St. Joseph, a maiden with a basket on her head, and other attendants.  Behind St. Elizabeth, we have a view into the interior of her house, through arcades richly sculptured; and within, Zacharias is reading, and the handmaids of Elizabeth, are spinning and sewing.  This elegant fresco was painted for Alexander VI.

7.  There is a fine picture of this subject, by Andrea Sabattini of Salerno, the history of which is rather curious.  “It was painted at the request of the Sanseverini, princes of Salerno, to be presented to a nunnery, in which one of that noble family had taken the veil.  Under the form of the blessed Virgin, Andrea represented the last princess of Salerno, who was of the family of Villa Marina; under that of St. Joseph, the prince her husband; an old servant of the family figures as St. Elizabeth; and in the features of Zacharias we recognize those