This
paper will offer a formal analysis of “The
Visitation,” dated 1496-97,
the oil on wood panel painting by the Master of the Retablo of the
Reyes Catholicos (Master of the Catholic Kings).i
Currently
in the University of Arizona Museum of Art's collection, the
painting is a
vertical panel that stands
60.96 inches tall and is 37.48 inches wide.ii
While the identity of the
artist is unknown, the name is inspired by the overall eight-panel
set, “The Altarpiece of the Catholic Kings,”
of which this is one panel.iii
Surrounded
the painting is a thick wooden frame in an architectural motif carved
in low relief. The frame has
hexagonal engaged columns,
or maybe pilasters,
with ornate sectional bases and
reliefs of repeated Gothic
arches pointing upward toward a twisting helical sectional shaft with
flower embellishments. Those
support smooth shafts bearing
ornately decorated spire capitals topped with blossoming flowers.
The entire piece is
capped by an exaggerated Ionic architrave. Bridging the two columns
is a lattice of repeating arches. The
organically curved high
vaults
vary in size,
but maintain a
relative scale among them.
The lattice
is segmented
into three equidistant sections by two additional
floating spire capitals,
which give the impression of a colonnade without intruding into the
painting's space. The lattice is also embellished with leaves, some
in the fleur-de-lis style, and some in a stylized rhomboid pattern,
specifically those acting at the decorative tips of semicircle
embellishments descending from the main arches.
