Visitation
c. 1555
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, on buff laid paper, laid down on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
24.2 × 17.4 cm (9 9/16 × 6 7/8 in.)
Classification
ink with wash
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
81788
Art Historical Context
**Visitation** by Luca Cambiaso, created around 1555, captures a biblical moment: the encounter between the Virgin and her cousin Elizabeth, announcing the coming births of Jesus and John the Baptist. This intimate drawing, housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings, exemplifies the Genoese artist's early mastery during the Mannerist period. Cambiaso (1527–1585), a leading figure in 16th-century Genoa, inspiration from masters like Michelangelo, infusing his works with elongated figures and dynamic compositions that convey spiritual emotion. Executed in pen and brown ink wit...
About the Artist
Luca Cambiaso · 1527–1585
Luca Cambiaso (1527–1585) was an Italian painter and draftsman who dominated artistic life in Genoa during the second half of the sixteenth century and became one of the most innovative draftsmen of the Late Renaissance. Born in Moneglia near Genoa, he trained under his father, the painter Giovanni Cambiaso, and demonstrated precocious talent, reportedly completing his first public fresco commissi...