The genius of the Italian intellectual and humanist Leonardo da Vinci is universal and mysterious. No less mysterious is his famous painting “Madonna Litta”. Riddles begin with the dating of the canvas and end with the doubts of some art historians about the fact of authorship of the great Italian artist. But first things first.
The plot of the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "Madonna Litta"
This is a common theological plot dedicated to the Mother of God and the Baby Christ. According to the early Christian tradition, the artist showed Mary completely focused on the child, while the look of little Jesus was fixed on the viewer. The composition of da Vinci's “Madonna Litta” is also compositionally solved. Virgin Mary is depicted against the background of two windows in the form of arches, from which a blue transparent light pours, enhancing the dark background behind her. In front, the figure of the Mother of God with the baby is illuminated by a soft light, the source of which is located as if in front of the image. Mother lovingly and carefully holds, embracing, baby. The boy gently clung to her. With his right hand he grasped the mother’s chest, and in the left - he holds the pet.
Symbolism of the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "Madonna Litta"
It is embedded in the plot and in the composition of the picture. The inspired gaze of the Mother of God is emphasized on the son, because for her He is the center of the universe. The gaze of the baby opens the closed composition of the picture. Christ looks at the audience and as if says: "I am always with you." Such symbolism was present in the early Christian frescoes found in Roman catacombs. She was very impressed with Leonardo da Vinci. “Madonna Litta” was the result of creative comprehension of this symbolic promise of Christ to humanity, as well as the image of the feeding process. God was embodied in man and fed by mother's milk. Through this feeding He accepts the human soul. And here a significant detail is seen in the image of the whetstone. Historians know the fact that Leonardo often came to the bird market, bought and released birds into the sky. The artist believed that the bird soul through feeding copies the human soul. The figurine carved in the picture confirms the idea that another sacrament occurs in the scene of feeding the baby with mother's milk - spiritual feeding.
The fate of the great picture
Before the work of art was in the halls of the Hermitage, it was stored in the collection of the Duke of Milan, Litt. Hence the name of the picture. Before that, she was called "Madonna and Child." In 1865, the Duke sold the painting to the Hermitage for one hundred thousand francs. The work was in such a deplorable state that urgent restoration was required. The painting was transferred from wood to canvas using a unique technology. The peculiarity of the restoration of the canvas was also that the author himself experimented a lot when creating new compounds of coloring pigments, mixing oil and tempera and using special glue synthesized from the smallest particles of goat parchment and having crystal transparency. The artist achieved accuracy in conveying his plan on the canvas, because he was convinced that the result of the master’s work was akin to the creation of God. Leonardo da Vinci believed that images and images resemble in the air, and the artist’s task is to capture and embody them. The concepts of image (imago) and likeness (similitude) in medieval theology also meant the Body and Blood of Christ. This is what the great Leonardo encoded in his artistic creations.
Date and authorship of the picture
It is traditionally believed that the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "Madonna Litta" was begun in 1480 and rewritten in 1495. However, some researchers believe that the canvas was created in the early 1500s. This assumption is associated with the data that Leonardo received in 1506 an order for the image of the Madonna from the French king Louis XII and from Pope Leo X, who asked to write the Madonna with a baby in her arms. And just in the painting “Madonna Litta” (photo - in the article) the child does not sit on his mother’s lap, as Leonardo painted on other canvases, but rests in her hands.
The intrigue with the authorship of the picture is also allowed long ago. Of course, its author is Leonardo da Vinci. This is evidenced by his notes testifying to the study of the composition, the unique hand of the master in creating the head of the Virgin, some parts of the body of Jesus, the painstaking work of Leonardo on chiaroscuro. Specially not prescribed folds of clothes and background details when carefully working out the faces in the picture are also not evidence that the work was created not by the master, but by his students, as previously assumed. Leonardo da Vinci deliberately plunges the background into darkness so that the face of the Mother of God with the baby mysteriously and convexly emerges from it, moves toward the viewer, striking with unearthly grandeur and monumentality.