The Virgin of the Rocks
Full title: The Virgin of the Rocks (The Virgin with the Infant Saint John adoring the Infant Christ accompanied by an Angel); 1491-1508; Oil on wood; 189.5 x 120 cm.
This work was commissioned in 1480 by the Milanese Confraternity (a religious group dedicated to charitable work) of the Immaculate Conception for a small prayer room in San Francesco. In 1483, Leonardo signed a contract that stated that he and the de Pedri brothers would create a work that had a central panel (that was to be painted by da Vinci alone) and two side panels. This painting does not refer to the Immaculate Conception; on the contrary, this work was designed to tell audiences that Jesus and John the Baptist met as children.
It was twenty five years until a painting of this subject was finally placed in the chapel. In the meantime, Leonardo had painted two versions of the composition: the first (in the Louvre) probably sold in the 1490s to a private client after a financial wrangle with the Confraternity; and a replacement, - the painting that now hangs in the National Gallery - that was never finished despite some help from his studio, but was installed in the chapel in 1508.
Mary is the central figure in this painting while Jesus is on the audience’s right and John the Baptist is on the left. Emphasis and focus is brought on Jesus for two main reasons: Mary’s left hand and the body language of John the Baptist on the audience’s left. Leonardo uses such revolutionary Renaissance techniques such as chiaroscuro, perspective, and realism and expression to bring detail, emphasis, and life to his subjects.
Leonardo’s first Madonna of the Rocks (or The Virgin of the Rocks) was controversial for many reasons. First, it was difficult for the audience to tell the difference between St. John the Baptist and Jesus. Second, the figures are presented as being in a dark and simple cave. The Confraternity did not feel that this was a suitable setting for Mary, Jesus, and St. John. Third, the hand of Uriel (the figure on the far right) was believed to symbolize a slicing motion which foreshadows the death of John the Baptist (he was eventually beheaded).
The controversies around The Madonna of the Rocks does not end with the painting’s original creation; the National Gallery of London’s team of experts have used infrared reflectography to find two distinct underdrawings beneath the surface of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Virgin of the Rocks'. Though one drawing corresponds with the final version of the painting, another shows a completely different picture of a kneeling figure. Her downcast gaze and pious gestures suggest that Leonardo's initial idea was to depict the Virgin in Adoration of the Christ Child. There is no sign of the baby Jesus, but this could be because Leonardo abandoned this idea before he came to include him. The controversies surrounding this painting only grew when The da Vinci Codewas written by Dan Brown.
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