Leonardo da Vinci - The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist 1499
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist 1499
141x104cm charcoal (and wash?) heightened with white chalk on paper, mounted on canvas
National Gallery, London, UK
The image is only being used for informational and educational purposes
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From National Gallery, London:
The Virgin Mary sits on the lap of her mother, Saint Anne. The Christ Child blesses his cousin Saint John the Baptist (the child on the right). Leonardo also treated the meeting of the two children in his two paintings of the Virgin of the Rocks. Both works are set in a wild mountainous landscape.
Saint Anne’s gesture, her finger pointing to heaven, alludes to Christ’s future destiny. Since she does not look very old and seems intimately related to Saint John the Baptist, many scholars have proposed that she is Saint Elizabeth, the Baptist’s mother. However, there is no tradition of placing the Virgin upon Elizabeth’s lap, whereas Saint Anne was often represented in this way.