Italian Renaissance

Madonna of the Rocks (Begun in 1483. Oil on wood, 6’-6 ½” X 4’)
From San Francesco Grande, Milan Italy (Now in the Louvre, Paris)
By Leonardo da Vinci

On the 25th April 1483, Leonardo wascontracted to deliver an altarpiece that would decorate the chapel of the Immacolata at the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan. At the same time Evangelista De Predis was assigned the task ofcarrying out the gilding, colouring and retouching with his brother Ambrogio to do side panels. Giacomo del Maino was commissioned to carve the framework and once finished the pieces would resemble aminiature temple. Leonardo's contract had a very short deadline which required the painting be delivered before December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, but as was typical of him he failed tocomply; this piece then became the source of two lengthy lawsuits which lasted for the many, many years. Two versions of this painting exist, one at the Louvre in Paris and the second held by theNational Gallery in London. Experts have studied both closely and consider the Louvre version to be entirely by Leonardo, while the National Gallery version is still the source of some debate. The favoredsuggestion is that de Predis and Leonardo collaborated on this painting after he failed to meet his contractual obligations. Leonardo may have given the Louvre painting to King Louis XII of France ingratitude for settling the lawsuit between those who commissioned the works and the painters; this would have created the need for a second artwork. The Madonna of the Rocks is the first work thatLeonardo executed in Milan. It addresses the theme of the Immaculate Conception; this being the belief that the Christ child was conceived without original sin on Mary's part. This was a hotly debatedtopic in Leonardo's day and he was required to convey the purity radiating from the Virgin. In both paintings she was depicted as flat chest and sitting in a cavern surrounded by phallic rocks and womb...