Madonna Litta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Madonna Litta |
| Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1490 |
| Oil on canvas (transferred from panel) |
| 42 × 33 cm |
| Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg |
The Madonna Litta is one of the great paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. There are numerous replicas of the work by other Renaissance painters, and Leonardo's own preliminary sketch of Madonna's head in the Louvre. The Child's awkward posture, however, led some scholars to attribute parts of the painting to Leonardo's pupil Boltraffio. Other clues that contribute to the fact that Leonardo had this painting completed by one of his pupils include the harsh outlines of the Madonna and Child, as well as the plain landscape. Also notice the small bird in the child's left hand.
This work was painted sometime in the 1480s for the Visconti rulers of Milan and soon passed to the Litta family, in whose possession it would remain for centuries. In 1865, Alexander II of Russia acquired it from Count Litta, quondam minister to St Petersburg, and deposited the painting in the Hermitage Museum, where it has been exhibited to this day. The painting was briefly featured in the 2006 film The Da Vinci Code.
