The Visitation

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The Gift of Canon de La Porte

In 1709, Canon de La Porte (1627-1710), the financial instigator of the Vow of Louis XIII and the redesign of the choir, decided to offer the cathedral a set of paintings on the theme of the life of the Virgin, including The Visitation. When he died in 1710 at the age of 83, the work was unfinished. Thanks to the inheritance he left to Notre-Dame, the eight paintings were completed and placed in the cathedral’s choir in 1715. The themes and artists chosen were:

• The Visitation by Jouvenet (1716)
• The Annunciation by Hallé (1717)
• The Nativity and The Adoration of the Magi by La Fosse
• The Assumption and Jesus in the Temple by Coypel
• The Flight into Egypt and The Presentation in the Temple by Boullongne.

Concerned with his legacy, Canon de La Porte also had himself depicted in a large painting by Jean Jouvenet, The Mass of Canon de La Porte (Louvre Museum).

Historical Challenges

During the revolutionary seizures, the paintings were transferred to the Museum in Versailles. During this transfer, three canvases disappeared. Later, under the Concordat, Napoleon I authorized the return of the remaining five canvases. They were reinstalled in the cathedral in 1807, hung in new frames.

When Eugène Viollet-le-Duc restored the cathedral in the 19th century, he noted in his diaries: “On the occasion of the baptism of the Imperial Prince, on June 14, 1856, the paintings were taken down, and it became evident that it would benefit the worship not to replace these paintings which block the arches of the aisles and darken this lateral part of the choir.” He added, “Removing them would allow for the restoration of severely damaged and undermined pillars, thus ensuring the solidity of the building.”

In the 1860s, the Louvre Museum exhibited the paintings. Only Jouvenet’s Visitation returned to the cathedral in 1947.

The Painting of The Visitation

The scene illustrates Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth, both pregnant with Jesus and John the Baptist, respectively. For this meeting, she travels from Nazareth in Galilee to Hebron in Judea. Mary, accompanied by Joseph, is depicted on the right with their donkey. On the left stands Zacharias, Elizabeth’s husband, in the background. This scene traditionally symbolizes John the Baptist’s prophecy, connecting the old and new worlds. Elizabeth appears as an elderly woman. Jouvenet’s composition does not depict the traditional meeting of Mary and Elizabeth but the more rarely treated episode of the Magnificat. Mary, in glory, raises her hands and eyes to the heavens, bathed in light. The painter accentuates the glory by placing the two women elevated on steps at the center, with the other characters arranged in a circle around them.

On the far left of the composition, the artist has depicted himself alongside Canon de La Porte. Although the canon had been deceased for six years when Jouvenet painted the work, the artist had previously portrayed him twice and used these portrayals for this depiction. Jouvenet followed an ancient tradition in religious painting by representing his patron in the painting. As for his self-portrait (Jouvenet died the following year), he presented himself as young, with a more idealized than realistic profile.

Jean Jouvenet (1644-1717)

Jean Jouvenet joined the studio of Charles Le Brun, the first painter to Louis XIV, at the age of 17. Le Brun had painted two Mays for Notre-Dame: The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (1647) and The Stoning of Saint Stephen (1651). Jouvenet worked for Versailles and received numerous royal commissions, eventually becoming the director of the Academy of Painting in 1705.

In 1673, at the age of 29, Jouvenet was commissioned by the chapter of Notre-Dame to paint a May on the theme of The Healing of the Paralytic. This theme coincidentally foreshadowed his later personal struggles. By the time he painted The Visitation at 72, he had suffered from paralysis in his right hand due to an apoplexy three years earlier. Ever diligent, he adapted to painting with his left hand. He dated and signed the painting on the first step: “J. Jouvenet dextra paralyticus sinistra fecit 1716,” meaning “made with the left hand as the right is paralyzed.”

A Fashionable Style

The gestures of Charles Le Brun, himself influenced by Rubens, shaped Jouvenet’s style. Jouvenet was interested in creating theatrical effects in the drapery movements while maintaining a fresh tonal quality. This style, with its emphasis, was highly appreciated by the king. Jouvenet often repeated successful compositions; he reused the model of the Virgin he had painted in The Descent of the Holy Spirit in the chapel of the Château de Versailles. This new representation of the Virgin, popular with the king, became fashionable at court. Consequently, The Visitation, well-known and admired by his contemporaries, was copied several times in the 18th century.

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