CHATSWORTH FINE ART SALE April 29th, 30th & May 1st 2026

112 IMPERFECTIONS NOT STATED Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 999. 17th Century Spanish School Circle of Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez (1599-1660) “The Visitation,”O.O.B., 71cms x 96cms (28” x 38”). (1) The two figures in this painting, both depicted half length, are leaning on a kitchen table while engaged in conversation. Holding her hand to her breast, the older woman, Elizabeth, on the left, looks at her companion in surprise. Elizabeth has learned, to her astonishment, that she is pregnant and will become the mother of John the Baptist. The woman on the right is her relative Mary, who has come to visit and who herself is pregnant with Jesus. Although the faces of the two women reflect their inner feelings, their hands also convey the emotional turmoil they are experiencing. As described in the Gospel of St. Luke, the scene is known as The Visitation, and is celebrated with a feast day, July 2nd, in the Christian church calendar.
In Spanish seventeenth century art, a painting of a scene in a kitchen is termed a ‘bodegon’, and Diego Velasquez specialized in depicting Biblical scenes in such humble domestic settings, with the protagonists wearing everyday garb. Dressed in a red dress and wearing a white head scarf, Elizabeth relates the unexpected news. On the right, Mary wearing a plain dark brown dress, looks at her relative in delighted astonishment. Beside Mary, on the table, is a ‘fiasco’, or wine bottle wrapped in straw rope, and in the background can be seen a cupboard. Peter Murray 2026 €3,000 - €4,000