By Kind Permission of a Private Collection
By Kind Permission of a Private Collection
The reference is to Madonna of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci in the Louvre. Another version, later in style, of the same picture, has been in the in the National Gallery in London since 1880, when it was bought from Lord Suffolk for £9,000. Both are accepted as the work of Leonardo, but the relationship between the two is unclear particularly since it was unusual for Leonardo to come so close to finishing one picture, let alone two versions, slightly but importantly different, of the same picture.
There are further comments on Louvre version of this picture at Works, 12.113 (where the rocks are seen as being 'no better than those on a china plate') and at Works, 12.460. There is discussion of the 'admirable painting of leaves' as opposed to the 'conventional and imperfect' rocks' at Works, 12.112 and Works, 12.113. The points are illustrated by figure 22 at Works, 12.114 and by the illustrations of, and comments on, the Geology of the Middle Ages at Works, 5.306 and Works, 5.307 and Plate 10 facing Works, 5.306.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci 1452-1519
Madonna of the Rocks c.1483-6
Oil on canvas, 199x122cm
Provenance: Altar-piece commissioned by the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, Milan
Further Comments: One source claims that the painting was in the Church of San Francesco, Milan from 1506 to 1781, and later in the possession of the King of France. However, another source claims that though the altar-piece was destined for the church in Milan, it never actually got there due to financial complications. The latter provenance is thus confusing.
Collection: Louvre, Paris