The visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Elizabeth (above) and Caspar, one of the magi, on horseback (below). Tempera painting by a Spanish painter, 14th century.

From ca. 1600 to ca. 1968 the painting was covered with an outer layer, painted in oil, showing the Visitation above and Saint Catherine below. In the upper scene, a woman behind the Virgin holds a basket of roses on her head. In the lower scene was shown a pensive man at Saint Catherine's feet, wearing a crown and holding a wand of office: presumably the Roman emperor who persecuted her. The upper scene had a scallop niche above and was inscribed "VISITACION"; the lower scene included an apse above and was inscribed "S: CATALINA". This outer layer was destroyed ca. 1968 on the ground that the inner paintings were more interesting from an art-historical point of view