Virgin of the Rocks

What you see

Mary, in the center in a dark blue mantle, kneels inside a grotto. One hand wraps around a child praying on the left; the other hovers above the child on the right, who sits beside an angel pointing a finger, the only figure looking out at us. The four figures form a pyramid, and the eye jumps from hand to hand.

Light emerges from the gloom and falls on the faces and the children’s skin, while the rocks stay in greenish browns. The angel’s red is the liveliest note. Look for the plants painted in detail on the ground and the rocks, the brooch on Mary’s mantle and, in the distance, the stone spires fading into blue.