Madonna Litta

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Madonna Litta: Leonardo da Vinci

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Leonardo da Vinci Oil Painting - Madonna Litta

Keywords: Madonna, Litta

Work Overview: Artist Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci
Year c. 1490
Type Tempera on canvas (transferred from panel)
Dimensions 42 cm × 33 cm (17 in × 13 in)
Location Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

The Madonna Litta is a late 15th-century painting, traditionally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. It depicts the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ child, a devotional subject known as the Madonna lactans. The figures are set in a dark interior with two arched openings, as in Leonardo's earlier Madonna of the Carnation, and a mountainous landscape in aerial perspective can be seen beyond. In his left hand Christ holds a goldfinch, which is symbolic of his future Passion.

Scholarly opinion is divided on the work's attribution, with some believing it to be the work of a pupil of Leonardo such as Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio or Marco d'Oggiono; the Hermitage Museum, however, considers the painting to be an autograph work by Leonardo. The painting takes its name from the House of Litta, a Milanese noble family in whose collection it was for much of the nineteenth century.

The Madonna Litta might be one of the paintings of the Madonna and Child recorded in Leonardo's studio before or during his first Milanese period (c.1481–3 to 1499). On a drawing in the Uffizi Leonardo noted that he had begun “two Virgin Maries” in late 1478 and an inventory of his studio written in 1482 (part of the Codex Atlanticus) again mentions two paintings of “Our Lady”. The second of these is, according to different interpretations, either noted as being “almost finished, in profile” or “finished, almost in profile”.[1] The Virgin's head in the Madonna Litta could be described either way, and it has therefore been argued that the painting was begun in Leonardo's first Florentine period and left unfinished until it was later worked up by a pupil in Milan.[2] Scientific analysis of the painting has, however, suggested that it was produced by only one artist.

Several drawings have been identified as preparatory to the Madonna Litta. One, which is universally attributed to Leonardo, is a metalpoint drawing of a young woman’s face in near profile, part of the Codex Vallardi in the Louvre (left). There is evidence that this sheet was used as an exemplum for teaching pupils in Leonardo’s workshop; on the reverse another artist has traced the outline of the face in pen and ink, a technique Leonardo himself used when developing compositions.[4] Further evidence of pupils copying the drawing comes in the form of a direct copy, by a rather uncertain draughtsman, on a sheet which was turned over and reused for a different drawing by another sixteenth-century artist; this is now in the Städel in Frankfurt.[5]

Two other drawings, in metalpoint with white lead highlights on blue prepared paper, are attributed to a follower of Leonardo, usually considered to be Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio. One, a study for the Christ child's head, is in the Fondation Custodia in Paris; the other, in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, is a drapery study for the Virgin’s garments. These have been attributed to Boltraffio on the basis of the Berlin drawing's similarity to other drapery studies by the artist.[6] It has been argued that the Paris and Berlin drawings are preparatory studies for the Madonna Litta rather than copies after it, as the drapery study shows more of the Virgin’s right arm than the finished work, in which this is obscured by Christ’s head. This suggests that the composition was partly pieced together from these studies.

A further related drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, attributed to Boltraffio, is of the Virgin's face in strict profile and does not resemble the finished painting in the Hermitage.[7] It has been argued that this study might represent an earlier idea by a pupil for the composition of the Madonna Litta, which the master Leonardo then “corrected” with the drawing in the Louvre.

That the painting was regarded in Leonardo's lifetime as his work is suggested by the large number of copies made of it. A popular candidate for authorship is Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio. David Alan Brown argues that Marco d'Oggiono was responsible for the Madonna Litta as its composition is reflected in his later works, whereas it is not in those of Boltraffio.[9] In the major exhibition on Leonardo's first Milanese period held at the National Gallery in London in 2011–12 the painting was attributed to Leonardo, but one art historian has remarked that this was “presumably a condition of the loan”.

It has been speculated that Leonardo might have taken the Madonna Litta with him to Venice in March 1500, as the diarist Marcantonio Michiel apparently recorded its presence in the Ca' Contarini in that city in 1543:

There is a little picture, of a foot or a little more, of an Our Lady, half length, who gives milk to the little boy, coloured by the hand of Leonardo da Vinci, a work of great power and highly finished.[11]

A foot in Venetian measurements was 34.7cm, rather less than the height of the painting in the Hermitage and closer to its width.[12] The earliest print of the composition is Venetian, by an artist in the circle of Zoan Andrea, and at least one painted copy by the Venetian school is known, in the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona.

In 1784, the earliest secure date in its provenance, the painting was bought by Prince Alberico XII di Belgioioso from one Giuseppe Ro. After Belgioioso's death in 1813 it passed into the collection of the Litta family, from whom it takes its current name. In 1865 the Russian Tsar Alexander II acquired the panel from Count Antonio Litta,[13] quondam minister to Saint Petersburg, for the Hermitage Museum, where it has been exhibited to this day. Upon acquiring the painting the Hermitage had it transferred from wood to canvas.

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Count Litta, owner of a family picture gallery in Milan, offered his collection to the Hermitage, sending a list of 44 works for sale and desiring that an agent be sent to Milan to carry on negotiations. Stepan Gedeonov, Director of the Imperial Hermitage, was despatched to Milan where he selected four paintings at a price of 100,000 francs. The most valuable of these was a Madonna and Child by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting was purchased on 12 January 1865 and has since then been called The Madonna Litta.

This painting would seem to have been produced in Milan, where the artist moved in 1482. It was one of a number of works to herald the arrival of a new period in art, which was to become known as the High Renaissance. The beautiful woman feeding her child seems to be the epitome of motherhood and motherly love, perceived as perhaps the greatest human value. The composition is simple and balanced, the figures of the Madonna and the Christ child modelled with the finest use of light and shade. Beyond the symmetrical windows lies an endless mountain landscape, recalling the harmony and vastness of all Creation. There is a preparatory drawing for this canvas in the Louvre, Paris. The painting is also known by the name of its previous owner, Count Antonio Litta, from whom it was acquired in 1865.

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Though a drawing exists to connect Leonardo with this painting its attribution to Leonardo has been a great source of controversy. There is little doubt he had a hand in the unsigned Litta Madonna, but it is awkwardly composed and more than likely was completed by his pupil Boltraffio, around 1480-1490. The tilt of the Madonna's head is typical of Leonardo and there also exists a drawing of this portion of the painting which is definitely by his hand. However, scholars who have studied the painting point out that the Christ Child bears little resemblance to others Leonardo produced. It is therefore likely that Leonardo designed the pose for this work -- and completed the Virgin's head -- with the rest of the painting being completed by another artist, perhaps Boltraffio, under the supervision of the master.

This work shows the Madonna suckling the Christ Child. Note the lack of halos in this painting; several Madonnas attributed to Leonardo display this same trait.

Litta Madonna passed from the hands of the Vicontis into the Litta family of Milan and takes its name from them. After this it was purchased by a Tsar; then in 1865 by Emperor Alexander II who added it to the Hermitage where it was transferred from wood to canvas. At this point in time it was completely repainted -- for the second time; the first repainting was done by an unknown Milanese artist in 1495.

Replicas of this painting are common, strongly indicating it was a famous composition.

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