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Virgin and Child

Leonardo da Vinci

1500

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

High Renaissance Renaissance Renaissance Religious

Dominant colour

Virgin and Child is a 1500 unspecified by Leonardo da Vinci, a High Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Leonardo da Vinci
When & what style?: 1500 · High Renaissance
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a woman and baby sitting in a dark room. The baby twists to look back at his mother, his body half-hidden in shadow. Experts once thought this was by Leonardo, but now they say it’s by someone who worked near him. The soft edges and gentle light feel like his style, but the faces aren’t as sharp. The background hills and the way the heads tilt are clues they borrowed his ideas. Look up *sfumato* to see how Leonardo made shadows melt into light.

The story of this work

Overview

Madonna and Child appear in half-length, seated against a dark wall. The Child's body is covered in shadow as he looks over his shoulder at his mother. This painting was bought by James Jackson Jarves as a Leonardo. The landscape and features of the figures are similar to Leonardo's Madonna of the Rocks , and in typical Leonardesque fashion, the figures' heads incline slightly to the left. However, Virgin and Child was later attributed to a member of Leonardo's circle named Francesco Napolitano (active 1500) because of its resemblance to his Madonna and Child with St. Sebastian and St. John…

Read the full account in the museum source.