The Visitation

By 1611 Rubens was the coming man in Antwerp, three years back from nearly a decade in Italy, and the cathedral had just handed him the commission that sealed his reputation, a great triptych of the Descent from the Cross. This small panel, barely half a metre tall, is one of his working thoughts toward it. Mary, newly pregnant, climbs the steps to greet her older cousin Elizabeth, and the two women meet in a rush of red and gold that Rubens brushed in fast, the way a composer jots a theme before scoring it. On the finished altarpiece the scene sits on a side wing that most worshippers barely glance at. Here you catch the idea while it is still loose in his hand.