Salimbeni, The Visitation: Mary's Departure (L. and J. Salimbeni)

Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni, The Visitation (Mary's Departure) from Life of John the Baptist

1416
Fresco
Oratorio of St. John the Baptist, Urbino, Italy

This panel references Luke 1:56, "And Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house." In the center, Zechariah takes Mary's hand as a gesture of farewell, while his wife Elizabeth looks on with her hands folded in prayer. The square halos, which Wikipedia says were used in earlier times for donor portraits, perhaps symbolize the Old Law under which they had lived.

In the Golden Legend's account of the birth of John, Mary stays with Elizabeth "till she was delivered and laid abed." In this panel, the artists have put the new baby in the arms of the woman in yellow on the left. His halo is round.

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Photographed at the oratorio by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.