Dorival lists twelve pictures known to have been executed by Philippe de Champaigne of The Visitation, of which only five are now known. The present picture may be compared with versions at the Pasadena Art Museum, the Collégiale de Villeneuve-les-Avignon, the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, and the picture sold at Sotheby's, 12 Dec. 1990, lot 58 (B. Dorival, op. cit., 1976, pp. 22-4, pl. 30-3, and B. Dorival, op. cit., 1992, p. 20, fig. 11). Unlike these, however, the present picture is the only one in horizontal format, which allows it to be identified with the picture that appeared in the Houdot and Malherbe sales in 1856 and 1883 respectively. Dorival also proposes that the present picture may be that which appeared in the artist's inventaire post mortem listed as item 61, 'La Visitation de la Vierge et de Sainte Elisabeth, ouvrage dit déffunt, prisé 120L' (Nouvelles Archives de l'Art Français, loc. cit., and B. Dorival, op. cit., 1992, p. 20).

The present picture, like that offered at Sotheby's, appears to be a reworking in reverse of the painting orginally commissioned for the Chapelle Tuboeuf in the Eglise de la maison de l'oratoire, now in the Pasadena Art Museum (B. Dorival, op. cit., 1976, pp. 22-3, no. 30, pl. 30). It also differs from both the other pictures in the inclusion of an extra male figure and a balustrade on the extreme right. There are further minor differences of detail in dress and physiognomy throughout. Dorival dates the Pasadena picture circa 1643, and believes the present one dates from the same period, prior to the full-length version which appeared at Sotheby's, which he dates to 1643-6 (B. Dorival, op. cit., 1992, p. 20).