LEONARDO DA VINCI 1452-1519

Infrared reflectogram of The Penitent Saint Jerome by Leonardo da Vinci Oil on walnut panel. About 1480–1482 Vatican Museums, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican The reflectogram shows that Leonardo began by drawing Saint Jerome as a nude figure before partially covering him with a cloak. It also reveals the violent treatment to which the painting was subjected in the first half of the 19th century: the saint’s head was cut out – probably to be sold – before finally being reinserted into the panel. © Vatican Museums, All rights reserved Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and an Angel, known as the Virgin of the Rocks Oil on panel, transferred to canvas About 1483–1494 Department of Paintings, Musée du Louvre, Paris, INV. 777 0 57 0 58 The Virgin of the Rocks was commissioned from Leonardo and the de Predis brothers for the chapel of the Immacu- late Conception in the Franciscan church of San Francesco Grande in Milan, on 25 April 1483.The scene was to be part of a carved altarpiece, but a financial dispute arose between the artists and their patrons.The work was then sold to a buyer for whom Leonardo modified the angel’s pose, turning the figure to point at John the Baptist while looking at the viewer.The National Gallery in London holds a second version of this painting.