The Visitation

Designer: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Manufacturer: Morris and Co.

1862

Stained glass

One of five apse windows, All Saints, Selsley, Glos.

After the Annunciation, shown in the south chancel window, the apse windows follow the main events of the life of Christ, through to his Ascension. Here, before the birth, Mary goes to visit her older cousin, Elisabeth. She is seen with Joseph close behind her, apparently holding up her trailing cloak, at the door of Elisabeth's house. Elisabeth's husband too is there, with a protective hand on his wife's shoulder. The two women seem to be very much on a family visit, but the infants they are expecting are special: they will be Jesus and John the Baptist, respectively. As the two women greet each other, Mary seems to be telling her cousin her own momentous news, and we know from St Luke 1, 41, that at that point Elisabeth's "babe leaped in her womb."

Photographer: Dr. Jim Cheshire, who retains the copyright.

Dr. Cheshire has most generously shared both image and caption material with us. Commentary and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]