Arcadópolis
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1503–1519
What you see
Three figures merge into a single block. Saint Anne, seated behind, smiles and looks down; Mary, sitting on her lap, leans forward and reaches for the Child, who clings to a lamb on the ground. The group forms a tilted pyramid, and the eye slides diagonally from Saint Anne’s head down to the lamb.
The colors look soft, with Mary’s blue-green mantle, a touch of red at her shoulder and a backdrop of pale, jagged mountains. On the right, a dark tree balances the composition. Keep an eye out for the bare feet of both women on the ground and the way the Child half climbs onto the lamb, holding it by the head.
About Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo was born in Vinci, near Florence, and was a painter, inventor, engineer and scientist all at once. He filled thousands of notebook pages with flying machines, studies of the human body and mirror-written notes. He finished only a few paintings, but almost all of them changed the history of art.
More by Leonardo da Vinci
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