PONTORMO, Jacopo
(b. 1494, Pontormo, d. 1557, Firenze)

Visitation

c. 1528
Drawing
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

This is a study for the painting in the parish church of San Michele at Carmignano (Florence). The drawing reveals some significant differences compared to the painted version. The preparatory design shows the two women in a frontal pose and more to the left compared to their position in the painting. The drapery around the four figures is less ample and thus diminishes the group's compactness, while the brisk pencil strokes delineating the faces of the companions or maidservants of the protagonists express in them a certain psychological agitation, which in the painting is totally absent.