The Visitation

The Visitation — Mary's journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, each woman pregnant with a son destined to transform the world — was among the most warmly human episodes in the New Testament narrative cycle, favoured by painters for its combination of doctrinal significance and intimate female encounter. The two women's recognition of each other's pregnancies served as mutual confirmation of the angel's messages, and the event was celebrated liturgically in the Catholic calendar. Van Thulden's 1655 Visitation, held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna — one of Europe's supreme collections — represents a commission of considerable prestige. The Kunsthistorisches holds extensive Flemish and Baroque holdings, and Van Thulden's work there reflects the collection's comprehensiveness. The subject required him to balance doctrinal gravitas with the emotional warmth of two women embracing in recognition.

The Visitation composition traditionally centres on the embrace of Mary and Elizabeth, with Joseph and Zachariah as supporting figures in the background. Van Thulden manages the intimate physical encounter — two pregnant women clasping each other — with the dignity required of a sacred subject while allowing genuine human warmth to animate the figures. The Baroque handling of drapery and the figures' rounded forms give the scene physical substance.