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The Burlington House Cartoon

Leonardo da Vinciabout 1499-1500

The National Gallery, London

The National Gallery, London
London, United Kingdom

The Virgin Mary sits on the lap of her mother, Saint Anne. The Christ Child blesses his cousin Saint John the Baptist (the child on the right). Leonardo also treated the meeting of the two children in his two paintings of the Virgin of the Rocks. Both works are set in a wild mountainous landscape.

Saint Anne’s gesture, her finger pointing to heaven, alludes to Christ’s future destiny. Since she does not look very old and seems intimately related to Saint John the Baptist, many scholars have proposed that she is Saint Elizabeth, the Baptist’s mother. However, there is no tradition of placing the Virgin upon Elizabeth’s lap, whereas Saint Anne was often represented in this way.

This large drawing is a cartoon, that is, a full-size preparatory study for a painting. Usually, in order to transfer a design onto a panel, the outlines of cartoons were pricked or incised. This example is intact. It must have been preserved in its own right as a finished drawing, although some areas have deliberately been left inconclusive or in rough outline.

A cartoon of a similar subject by Leonardo drew huge crowds when it was publicly displayed in Florence in 1501. This was probably made for the painting now in the Louvre, Paris. The National Gallery’s cartoon may have been executed slightly earlier in Milan, perhaps after the French invasion of the city. Many artists drew inspiration from these complex and atmospheric drawings.

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  • Title: The Burlington House Cartoon
  • Creator: Leonardo da Vinci
  • Date Created: about 1499-1500
  • Physical Dimensions: 141.5 x 104.6 cm
  • Type: Painting
  • Medium: Charcoal (and wash?) heightened with white chalk on paper, mounted on canvas
  • School: Italian
  • More Info: Explore the National Gallery’s paintings online
  • Artist Dates: 1452 - 1519
  • Artist Biography: Leonardo trained in Florence with Verrocchio. He moved to Milan in 1482, but returned to Florence in 1499 or 1500, where he remained for much of the time until 1506. He was then in Milan until 1513 and subsequently in Rome. In 1517 he went to France; he died at Amboise. His interests included painting, sculpture, architecture, and most branches of scientific discovery.
  • Acquisition Credit: Purchased with a special grant and contributions from the Art Fund, The Pilgrim Trust, and through a public appeal organised by the Art Fund, 1962
The National Gallery, London

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