Jacopo Pontormo's Visitation, a fresco in the atrium of the SS. Annunziata, Florence, has rarely been treated to an iconographical examination, and then only superficially and without adequate examination of the significance of certain of its anomalous aspects, among them the formal architectural backdrop and the Sacrifice of Abraham. However, deciphering the painting's content requires careful study of the inscriptions. Yet, those very few scholars who have recognized the potential of these texts have either ignored or misinterpreted them. To some extent, this is understandable, because the inscriptions are extremely difficult to unravel and to comprehend, since they consist of abbreviations or fragments of words. l have managed to do so and to ascertain the ideas they embody. These I coordinated with the various pictorial elements of the painting, with engraved replicas, and with biblical and liturgical texts and conclude that the painting' message centers around and elaborates the concept of faith.