Other Titles
Madonna in the Grotto / Madonna with the Child and the Infant Saint John / La Vierge aux Rochers (Fr.)
Leonardo, as with all his paintings, never titled the work himself. The later title “Felsgrottenmadonna” (from the 19th century) derives from the painting’s striking rocky background.
Artist
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Date
1483–1486
Technique
Oil on wood (detached from the panel and transferred to canvas in 1806)
Dimensions
approx. 122 × 199 cm
Genre
Altarpiece – Madonna painting – Sacra Conversazione (Holy Conversation)
Description
The Madonna kneels in a rocky grotto, flanked on the left by John the Baptist, on the right by the Christ Child, with an angel kneeling beside them.
Period
Renaissance
Provenance
Musée du Louvre, Paris (inventory number 777)
Owner
France
Market Value
Not for sale
Insurance Value
In 2011, part of the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery, London. The entire loan was insured by the state for around £3 billion. The painting itself is therefore estimated to have an insurance value of several hundred million euros, while its potential market value would be considerably higher.
Notable Features
Emphasis on natural representation (rocks, vegetation)
Ambiguity of the figures
Hidden construction lines central to the composition
Concealed motifs
No signature
A second version exists in the National Gallery, London
The surrounding altar frame was roughly designed as a Golden Rectangle. The golden ratio of the painting’s height marks the upper boundary of the group of figures, and another golden section intersects the Baptist’s eye (orange lines). The eyes of the angel indicate that the painting was constructed from the bottom up (mouseover)
Through continuous division of the picture format according to the golden ratio, a golden spiral emerges that intersects the right eye of Jesus. Its geometric center is defined by the two diagonals of all the resulting golden rectangles. The longer diagonal touches the Madonna’s right eye and precisely intersects her neck brooch. The eyes of all four figures are connected through the golden ratio (mouseover)
The painting demonstrates the principle of continuous halving. Here, too, the eyes and hands mark the resulting verticals and horizontals (blue dots). Due to the ongoing halving, a golden ratio also appears between the angel’s eye and hand, as well as the blessing hand of Jesus (mouseover)
The eyes of the group of figures can be enclosed within a circle exactly half as wide as the painting. All eyes are connected by triangles composed of symbolic angles (30°, 60°, 90° or 45°, 90°, 45° or 60°, 45°, 75° – mouseover). A fourth triangle, originating from the angel, shows a 108° angle — the interior angle of a regular pentagon (light blue)
The angle formed by the right eyes of the Baptist boy and the angel is the same as the angle connecting the peaks of the rocks.
The bright areas to the upper left of the Madonna and around the two rocks show the strongest light-dark contrast within the cave, which becomes especially apparent when the painting is darkened (mouseover)
Increasing the contrast and slightly darkening the image simulates the lighting effect of a dim room illuminated by candlelight, with the candle positioned close to the painting. It becomes noticeable that parts of the Christ Child were painted significantly brighter than the other figures
Virgin of the Rocks
by Leonardo da Vinci
Driven by my yearning desire and longing to behold the great abundance of manifold and wondrous forms that artful nature brings forth, I came, after wandering for some time among dark rocks, to the entrance of a vast cave. For a while I stood before it, properly amazed and ignorant of its nature; then I bent my back, resting my left hand upon my knee, and with my right I shaded my lowered and furrowed brows. I leaned now this way, now that, trying to discern whether anything might be visible within. But I was denied that sight because of the deep darkness reigning inside. After remaining thus for a while, two feelings arose within me: fear and desire—fear of the threatening, dark cave, and the desire to explore whether something marvelous might be hidden within.
Painting Description
A dark grotto. It is open toward the top. Light falls in from the upper left. In the background, rock formations appear, revealing through a large opening in the distance a view across a small river toward the sea. Within the rocky grotto, numerous plants can be seen.
At the center of the painting kneels a woman facing the viewer. She is of graceful beauty. Her dark-blond hair falls in soft curls over her shoulders. She wears an exceptionally long dark blue mantle, lined on the inside with a fabric that glows orange. At chest height it is fastened by a brooch adorned with a large, crystal-clear gemstone, in which a window outside the pictorial space is reflected.
Around the woman are three other figures. She looks toward a half-naked, golden-haired boy to her right and touches his right shoulder. He kneels facing right, with one leg on a small rock above the ground. A nearly transparent, tightly fitted thin leather garment covers parts of his torso. His hands are folded beneath his face. He gazes expressionlessly at a naked, golden-haired boy below, to the left of the woman in the mantle. This boy sits cross-legged facing him, supporting himself on the ground with his left hand, while raising his right in a gesture of blessing toward the other boy. The woman in the mantle holds her left hand, stretched flat forward, protectively above his head.
Behind him, a female figure supports him at the hip. Her left knee rests on the ground behind him, her right foot extends far forward. She wears a green garment, artfully folded over her left shoulder, and a red mantle that falls across her back. Attached to it are angel’s wings. With her right hand she points meaningfully toward the boy on the rock. She looks at the viewer and smiles.
In front of the scene, an abyss opens, separating the audience from the figures.
Commissioner
Leonardo left his hometown of Florence in 1482 at the age of 30. Shortly afterward, on April 25, 1483, he signed the contract for his first major commission in his new home, Milan.
The painting was conceived as part of an altarpiece for the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. It was located within Milan’s largest Franciscan church at the time, San Francesco Grande, which had recently been rebuilt. The chapel was maintained by the lay confraternity of the “Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception”—an association of wealthy Milanese citizens. Leonardo was to create the central main panel of the new altar. The commission also included two side panels featuring angels making music, which Leonardo delegated to two local painters, the brothers Ambrogio and Evangelista de Predis. The entire altar consisted of an additional 18 much smaller panels arranged around Leonardo’s contribution, painted by other artists. The largest of these measured about one-third the height of the music-making angels by the de Predis brothers. Leonardo’s painting was therefore the central and principal work. Carvings and gilding were also to be added to the altar. The commission was moderately paid at 200 ducats, to be disbursed in monthly installments over 20 months. A clause allowed for an additional payment if costs exceeded the original estimate. The commission carried high prestige.
After the completion of the work around 1486, a dispute arose over payment: the agreed 200 ducats (700 g of gold, about €70,000 as of 2025) seemed too low to Leonardo, as they barely covered his expenses. In a petition to the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, he stated that the confraternity “spoke of color as if they were blind men” and argued that he considered the painting worth 300 ducats (about €100,000), of which 100 ducats alone should be for the Madonna painting. He proposed that independent experts assess the value and requested that the painting be returned to him should the confraternity refuse to pay more.
A lengthy legal dispute followed, lasting 25 years. In the end, the confraternity received a second, slightly altered version of the painting. Today, the higher-quality version in the Louvre, Paris, is considered the original painted by Leonardo himself. The second version, housed in the National Gallery, London, was created with assistance from his workshop.
The side panels were trimmed at the top when they were later removed from the altar. Originally, the arch at the upper edge was complete. The striking green of the angel, in combination with the red of the angel on the right, reflects the color motif of the angel in the Louvre version, who is also depicted wearing a red and green garment
It differs from the Louvre version in several details — for example, in the gestures of the figures and in the background — and shows less of Leonardo’s characteristic soft shading (sfumato). The angel here no longer wears red and green garments, which made the final altar composition appear less harmonious
Evangelista de Predis did not live to see the completion of the commission; he died in 1491. It is also possible that his brother Giovanni Ambrogio was the author of this angel
Figures and Scene
The depiction itself has no direct biblical references but instead relates to the Protoevangelium of James, an extra-biblical legend according to which Jesus Christ and his relative John the Baptist may have met as children in a cave.
The depicted figures
The four figures are biblical characters corresponding to the worldview of the commissioners. The depiction of Mary and Jesus was contractually required, as well as several angels and two prophets. However, Leonardo deviated from these specifications and defined the figures according to his own conception.
Mary, Mother of Jesus
At the center kneels Mary. She is the mother of Jesus and conceived him through the miracle of the Immaculate Conception.
The veneration of Mary played a particularly important role for the commissioners.
Jesus
The boy on the right is Jesus, the Son of God and savior of humankind. He performed numerous miracles and was executed on the cross because he was accused of misleading the people. After his death, the miracle of his resurrection occurred.
The depiction of the Christ Child was explicitly required by the confraternity, since the painting served as the altarpiece of a Christian chapel.
John the Baptist
The boy on the left is John the Baptist. His mother, the elder Elizabeth, and the young Mary were relatives (Luke 1:36). Both miraculously became pregnant around the same time. John was six months older than Jesus. His birthday (June 24) is celebrated exactly half a year before Christmas.
John, as a prophet, announced the imminent coming of God and baptized Jesus as well as others. He was later arrested as a rebel and beheaded.
John the Baptist was not only the patron saint of Florence, Leonardo’s hometown, but also the patron of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, which commissioned the painting.
An Angel
The angel depicted on the right cannot be identified with certainty. In connection with John the Baptist, the name Uriel is often mentioned—the fourth archangel and angel of light. However, it could also be interpreted as the Archangel Gabriel, the angel of the Annunciation, who foretold the miraculous pregnancies of both Elizabeth and Mary and was regarded as their protector.
Which scene is depicted?
The Protoevangelium of James was of great importance to the commissioning order—ardent devotees of Mary—because it recounts more details of Mary’s life than the Bible does. Leonardo was relatively free in his choice of subject and decided on an episode that allowed him to depict the greatest possible variety of natural elements. He chose an episode from the Protoevangelium shortly after the birth of Jesus. At that time, prophecies were circulating about a new “King of the Jews” (Mt 2). King Herod felt threatened and ordered all male children up to the age of two in his realm to be killed (“Massacre of the Innocents”).
The New Testament reports that Mary then fled with Jesus and her husband Joseph to Egypt. The “Flight into Egypt,” and especially the “Rest on the Flight into Egypt,” have long been popular subjects in painting.
The New Testament, however, does not mention any flight of John and his mother Elizabeth.
Flight of Elizabeth and John
The Protoevangelium of James adds to this account: it tells that Elizabeth fled with the boy John into the mountains to escape the massacre. At first, however, they found no shelter there. It then continues:
And immediately the mountain split open and took them in. And that mountain was filled with divine light, for an angel of the Lord was with them and protected them.
The Protoevangelium, however, mentions this cave only in connection with Elizabeth and John, not with Mary and Jesus. A meeting of the four persons during their flight is conceivable because of their kinship, but it is not recounted there. The encounter of the two families in a cave is therefore a pictorial invention by Leonardo—and the only depiction of its kind.
Birth of the Christ Child
The Protoevangelium of James also mentions a cave in another context. Departing from the biblical version, Jesus is not born in a stable but in a cave. A woman named Salome, who happens to pass by, cannot believe that a virgin has given birth, tests this in disbelief, and finally recognizes the miracle. An angel appears and declares that the newborn child is the savior of the world.
Shortly afterward, at the same cave, the Magi appear and bring the Christ Child gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, as a star above the cave had guided them there.
Thus, in the Protoevangelium of James, the cave holds central significance for both Jesus (place of birth) and John (place of refuge).
The Madonna is surrounded by a dark forest and rocks. Fra Filippo Lippi was one of the teachers of Leonardo’s fellow student Botticelli. What is particularly remarkable about this depiction is that the newborn Jesus is not shown, as usual, in a manger or a stable, but in the midst of a forest
Mantegna’s work depicts the Madonna—not in a stable, as was common at the time—but in a cave. Mantegna was strongly influenced by Florentine art
Mutability of the Figures
Leonardo’s painting is best known for the fact that the identification of the figures is not clear-cut. In principle, John is shown on the left and the blessing Christ Child on the right. Yet the boy identified as Jesus can just as easily be perceived as John—and vice versa. This ambiguity also extends to the two female figures. It arises from the arrangement of the group, their gestures, the missing or unclear attributes, their appearance, and allusions to details from Christian tradition.
The Boy Figures
Leonardo deliberately omitted the usual saintly attributes and intentionally created ambiguity. John, for instance, wears neither a camel-hair garment nor holds the long reed cross. The halos that normally identify Mary, Jesus, and John are also absent. In doing so, Leonardo contradicted the symbolic conventions of Christian painting of his time.
Moreover, several striking reversals occur:
- John is depicted elevated above Jesus
- John is partly covered by Mary’s protective mantle, while the Christ Child sits dangerously close to the edge of the abyss
- John is so close to Mary that she can touch him, whereas the Christ Child is positioned farther away
- The angel on the right does not meaningfully point to Jesus, but to John
- John is directly looked at by both Mary and Jesus. He is the only figure at whom two others gaze
Through these arrangements, the boy on the left appears as the main figure of the scene, as is otherwise customary for Jesus.
The ambiguity between the two boys is further emphasized by their faces, which display a very similar, almost expressionless demeanor. Both gaze without delight, thereby foreshadowing their later fates: John will be beheaded, and Jesus crucified.
In contemporary depictions, the hands of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist are usually shown as Leonardo depicts those of the left boy. Conversely, the gesture of the Christ Child here corresponds to that of a blessing John. The scene can thus also be understood as follows: the slightly elevated child on the left—typical of depictions of Jesus—now represents Jesus receiving the baptism of the right-hand John in a prayerful posture. At the same time, the hand gesture of the right child is again typical of depictions of Jesus (“Blessing Christ”). Leonardo thus consciously plays with the religiously traditional meanings of gestures.
He resolves this interplay by placing the left child at the edge of the painting, moving it slightly out of the center, while the right child sits closer to the middle and appears somewhat brighter. The kneeling body of the Madonna is also oriented toward the right child. These details help viewers ultimately identify the boy on the right once more as Jesus.
Leonardo’s depiction deviates from traditional iconography. He shows a transparent and therefore barely visible cloak on the young Baptist
Here the kneeling John the Baptist boy wears the typical loincloth and holds the long reed cross
Rubens omitted the staff, but the cloak is recognizable as camel hair, which, according to tradition, was worn by John the Baptist
The praying hand posture of Christ is exemplary of depictions of the Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist (right)
The hand posture of Christ is exemplary of this type of depiction. Leonardo adopts it for the Christ Child
The Female Figures
Not only the boys appear mutable; the identity of the two women is also not clearly defined. Through the female figures, Leonardo demonstrates his idea of a modern visual narrative: he layers traditional episodes from the lives of the depicted figures and unites them into a single painting that tells all their stories at once. This kind of pictorial conception was innovative at the time.
The Angel Becomes Elizabeth
The Protoevangelium recounts that Elizabeth fled with John into a cave to escape Herod’s soldiers. Leonardo’s painting presupposes that Mary and Jesus, who were themselves on their flight into Egypt, encounter them there.
It seems natural that John’s mother, Elizabeth, must be present—she would hardly have given her infant out of her arms. Accordingly, the two female figures could be Mary and Elizabeth.
The wings of the angel on the right are barely visible against the rock. The tones and shadows are chosen so that they can easily be overlooked. Leonardo thus intentionally made the angel appear more human. In connection with the narrative of the Protoevangelium, this figure can therefore only be Elizabeth.
Both Elizabeth and Mary are associated with the Archangel Gabriel: he first appeared to Elizabeth’s husband and announced her miraculous pregnancy. Six months later, he appeared to Mary and foretold the birth of the Messiah. In depictions of the Madonna with the Christ Child, Gabriel is therefore often shown beside her—traditionally in male form. All the more striking, then, is the female appearance of the angel. Here too, Leonardo breaks convention, giving the figure a feminine appearance—fitting her interpretation as Elizabeth.
Mary Becomes Elizabeth
That Leonardo deliberately created ambiguity is also evident in the color choice of Mary’s mantle. The confraternity had stipulated that the Madonna be painted with a blue cloak—blue being the iconographic color for garments of Mary. Leonardo again deviated from this specification: the cloak of the central woman is painted predominantly in shades of green, as color analysis shows, and only the darker areas are actually dark blue. The cloak appears blue only because of the complementary contrast Leonardo created through the many orange tones in the surroundings (skin and inner lining of the cloak). Only in the London version is the cloak truly blue. Leonardo thus also avoided presenting a clearly identifiable Mary.
If Leonardo intended to depict the two women as Elizabeth and Mary, he had to take into account the biblical information about their ages: Elizabeth was a woman “advanced in years” (Luke 1:18). She was so old that her husband doubted she could ever again become pregnant.
Mary, by contrast, was much younger. According to the Protoevangelium, she became pregnant at the age of sixteen. Elizabeth therefore had to appear visibly older than Mary. In the painting, the two women do not appear to be the same age; the figure on the right looks younger. It must therefore be Mary, who—appropriately—is shown close to her child, Jesus. Elizabeth would then be the central female figure, holding her child, John, under her arm.
This would also create a kind of chronology: the painting could be read from top to bottom like a genealogy—the elder Elizabeth gave birth to John, and shortly afterward Mary gave birth to Jesus.
The Angel Becomes Salome
Leonardo takes the ambiguity of the altarpiece’s figures to its extreme by painting a pointing finger on the angel. Radiological examinations of the painting have shown that this finger is not present in the underdrawing; it also disappears in the later London version.
The Franciscans of the “Order of the Immaculate Conception” were the commissioners of the painting. At that time, they were debating the doctrine of the “Immaculate Conception” of Mary. The main source for this belief was the Protoevangelium of James. James recounts that after Mary gave birth to Jesus in the cave, her midwife encountered a woman named Salome and told her that a virgin had given birth. Salome strongly doubted the story and insisted on verifying Mary’s virginity herself:
As the Lord my God lives, if I do not put my finger to test her condition, I will not believe that a virgin has given birth. And the midwife went in and said: “Mary, prepare yourself, for a great dispute has arisen about you.” And Mary heard and prepared herself, and Salome put forth her finger to test her condition.
After the examination, Salome repented of her doubt, and an angel appeared to her, urging her to take the child into her arms. She took him and said, “I will adore him, for a king has been born to Israel.”
In the context of the cave, the presence of Mary, and the pointing gesture, the angel in Leonardo’s painting could thus have appeared to the Franciscans as the doubting Salome, testing Mary’s virginity. Her finger no longer points to the boy John but to Mary’s lap. Her smile expresses both doubt and joy over the confirmed miracle. In this way, Leonardo alludes to the very subject that most preoccupied his commissioners: the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
The Angel Becomes Gabriel
Luke, the author of the Gospel bearing his name, recounts the life of Jesus in the New Testament. According to an ancient legend, he painted during Mary’s lifetime a portrait of her with the Christ Child—the so-called Luke Image—which is why he is still regarded as the patron saint of painters. Numerous European painters’ guilds bore his name (for example, “Compagnia di San Luca” in Italy, “Sint-Lucasgilde” in the Netherlands, or “Lukasgilde” in Germany). Leonardo himself was a member of the “Compagnia di San Luca” of Florence.
The “Annunciation” is an account from Luke’s Gospel (Luke 1:11 ff.) and appears only there. First, the Archangel Gabriel announces to the aged, childless couple Zechariah and Elizabeth the birth of their son John. Six months later, Gabriel appears to Mary and announces to her the birth of the Messiah. In painting, this “Annunciation to Mary” became a distinct pictorial type, showing Mary reading holy scripture while the archangel brings her the message in an interior setting.
Against the background of the ambiguities in Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks, the angel on the right can be interpreted as the Angel of the Annunciation. He has just announced Mary’s pregnancy—who simultaneously appears as Elizabeth. As Elizabeth, she experiences in a vision the future John, whom she indicates with her right hand toward the blessing Jesus child. As Mary, she experiences during the Annunciation her future son Jesus, whom she points toward the baptism by John. The angel points to the pregnant belly of Elizabeth/Mary and is himself filled with the joyful message (Greek ángelos = “messenger,” euangélion [Latin evangelium] = “good news”).
This interpretation is supported by a remarkable detail: a centrally positioned brooch fastening the dark blue cloak of the Madonna. Upon closer inspection, a window of a room outside the pictorial space is reflected in the crystal-clear gemstone. It is a mystical window, as the painting itself offers no explanation for it. It suggests that the scene is a vision. Either the rocky cave represents reality and the reflected room a vision—or conversely, the Madonna and the reflection in the brooch represent reality, while the cave (and the figures around her) are the vision.
The gemstone shows a striking reflection. The clear geometric pattern with its perfectly vertical and horizontal lines cannot originate from the cabochon cut of the stone (oval shape, flat underside, and an evenly convex, so-called domed surface). The reflection on the gemstone immediately suggests a window, which, from the Madonna’s perspective, must be located to her right. The position of the presumed window aligns with the angle of the light entering the painting from the left. The reflection of a window on the brooch is surprising, as the scene of the painting depicts a cave in open nature and gives no indication of a room or similar interior space
Massys was a contemporary of Leonardo. A detail of this famous painting shows a reflection similar to that on the brooch in Leonardo’s Madonna. Painters of that time had begun experimenting with convex forms
The Brooch and the Artist’s Studio
As so often with Leonardo, there is not just one single explanation for peculiarities in his works. The fact that Leonardo—described by his contemporaries as having a particularly keen sense of humor—painted a reflective window visible only upon close inspection as a tiny detail within a two-meter-high painting, can be regarded as one of his characteristic pictorial jokes. It points to the fact that the painting is so deceptively realistic that viewers must be reminded—through this allusion to the artist’s studio, lit by a window—that they are not part of the painted world, but are instead observing from outside, within a room with a window, looking at a painted wooden panel. It is therefore remarkable that the angel points toward the light entering through the window while simultaneously gazing outward toward the viewer.
At the same time, the depiction of the window refers to a passage in Leonardo’s famous “Book on Painting.” There, he lays out rules for the arrangement of an artist’s studio. At one point, he writes that the painter’s workspace should always be illuminated from the upper left—left, so that the shadow of the working hand does not fall over the painting, and from above, as this corresponds to the natural direction of light. The reflection in the brooch of the Virgin of the Rocks thus gives viewers a glimpse into the artist’s studio: the window is located behind him to the left, and before him, his work. Later generations of Dutch painters (especially Jan Vermeer) allude to this principle in their paintings, where light usually enters the room through a window on the left. It remains uncertain whether Vermeer knew Leonardo’s writings or followed these principles intuitively.
For Leonardo himself, however, the rule did not apply—he was left-handed. To prevent the shadow of his hand from interfering with his work, the window had to be on his right, not on his left.
The light enters through the window on the left
Conclusion on the Mutability of the Figures
Leonardo thus tells at least three stories in the Virgin of the Rocks:
- the Annunciation of the births of John and Jesus by the Archangel Gabriel (Gospel of Luke)
- the virgin birth in the cave and the test of Salome (Protoevangelium of James)
- the flight of Elizabeth and John the Baptist into a cave, where they encounter Mary and Jesus (Protoevangelium of James)
This merging of different narratives within a single painting is characteristic of Leonardo’s work. In doing so, he masterfully met the expectations of his commissioners. He succeeded in placing the story of John the Baptist and Mary—both especially venerated by the commissioners—before the story of Jesus, without diminishing his importance, while also alluding to the question of the “Immaculate Conception,” which the Franciscans were then debating and after which their order was named.
Leonardo’s first independent and completed painting ultimately reveals his position on how pictorial narratives should be composed in a modern way. The revolutionary nature of his work becomes evident when compared with the finest paintings of his time.
The work was created around the same time on commission from the Pope and is located directly next to Michelangelo’s famous paintings in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Botticelli was a former fellow student of Leonardo in Verrocchio’s workshop in Florence. The painting unites several scenes from the life of Moses (Moses is shown wearing a green and yellow cloak). Such arrangements were widespread during the Renaissance. Leonardo deliberately broke with this tradition, as it was his aim to unite as many stories as possible within a single depiction
Symbolism
Leonardo composed the painting with great care. Nothing appears accidental; the details, in particular, seem deliberately chosen.
The Light
Light is Leonardo’s ever-recurring motif and serves as a symbol of the light of God, which can illuminate even the deepest darkness. It is associated both with John, who was not himself the light but came to bear witness to it (John 1:5–8), and with Jesus, the “light of the world” (John 8:12). Their bright, naked bodies point to this idea.
The Sea
The sea in the left background of the painting is also thought to refer to Mary. Leonardo had a fondness for wordplay—he surrounded Ginevra de’ Benci with a large juniper bush (Italian “ginepro”) and painted Cecilia Gallerani with a weasel (ancient Greek “galéē”) as the Lady with an Ermine. The same seems to apply here: behind Mary rises the infinite sea (Italian “mare”). Leonardo would not have needed to show water outside the cave to tell the apocryphal story of James.
The Rock
The surrounding rock is a symbol of faith in God. It serves as a refuge from the dangers of the world and separates the good within from the evil outside. Leonardo leaves the rock open at the top, allowing light to pass through—as the apocryphal text says, “light could shine through, for an angel of the Lord was with them and protected them.”
The Cave
The cave as a place of refuge is taken from the Protoevangelium of James, which inspired Leonardo. In this text, the mountain splits open and offers Elizabeth and her son John protection from the murderers sent by Herod.
James also writes that Jesus was not born in a stable but in a cave. Thus, the cave becomes a symbol of Christ’s birth—the incarnation of God (Jesus being regarded as the Son of God).
The final miracle of Jesus is his resurrection. After he was crucified and died, he was, according to the Bible, laid in a cave for three days. Then he rose from the dead and left the cave.
According to James’s apocryphal legend, the cave therefore symbolizes both the beginning (birth) and the end of the story of Jesus (entombment and resurrection).
The Brooch
The brooch fastening Mary’s dark blue cloak consists of a very large, seemingly transparent gemstone surrounded by twenty smaller gems or pearls. The central gemstone could be either a large diamond or a slightly yellowish opal. A diamond of that size would have been of immense value and would still rank among the largest diamonds in the world today. If it were an opal, the stone would be considerably less expensive but still highly precious. Its size and clarity refer to Mary’s physical and spiritual purity, as described in the Protoevangelium of James.
The Plants
The light is also the reason why plants are able to grow in the barren rocky grotto. The exact identification of the plants remains the subject of ongoing debate, yet much suggests that they were deliberately chosen and, through their symbolism, allude to the future fate of Mary, Jesus, and John.
Symbol of purity, and at the same time an allusion to Mary’s future sorrow
The Eyes
In the altarpiece, Leonardo depicts a total of seven eyes. The number seven carries strong significance in Christian tradition: the Bible begins with the creation of the world in seven days and ends in the Revelation of John with the opening of a book sealed with seven seals.
In the Virgin of the Rocks, four eyes lie on a precise circle whose diameter corresponds exactly to half the width of the painting. Four is the number of the Gospels (Latin “good news”) in the New Testament.
The number of visible eyes corresponds to the seven eyes in Leonardo’s other large altarpiece, the Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child. There too, four figures are depicted, one of them a lamb. As in the Virgin of the Rocks, one eye is hidden—here, the right eye of the Christ Child; there, the right eye of the lamb. The lamb symbolizes the sacrifice and passion of Jesus. The Saint Anne was painted about twenty years after the Virgin of the Rocks. It is therefore remarkable that Leonardo connects both paintings through the number of eyes (seven) and the motif of a hidden right eye—once belonging to Jesus, once to the lamb. This shows that Leonardo’s paintings are not meant to be viewed in isolation but are thematically related to one another.
In the Saint Anne, painted about twenty years later, Leonardo again depicts four figures: Anne, her daughter Mary, Mary’s son Jesus, and a lamb. The lamb’s right eye is hidden, making seven eyes visible once more. This gives the impression that Leonardo intentionally created a connection between the two paintings. As in the Virgin of the Rocks, he refrains from using traditional saintly attributes
Composition
The painting was originally intended as the central panel of an altarpiece in what was then the largest church in Milan. When Leonardo received the commission for the Virgin of the Rocks, the altar structure was already under construction. His workshop was responsible for painting the central panel and the two flanking panels with music-making angels, while the surrounding eighteen smaller panels were executed by other painters. This shows that Leonardo had no freedom regarding the painting’s format but had to work within the space defined by the altar’s construction.
I Golden Ratio
The Virgin of the Rocks clearly shows the Golden Ratio as a central proportion. This is directly related to the format of the altar for which the painting was originally intended.
Base Format and Deviations from the Ideal Measure
The base format of the painting was determined by the architecture of the altar, which provided a rectangle in the Golden Ratio for the central panel, a so-called Golden Rectangle. It was to be partly covered at the top by a semicircular frame. Leonardo adopted this proportion and played with it.
The height of the painting relates to its width almost exactly according to the Golden Ratio. The outer dimensions therefore form a Golden Rectangle (orange dashed line). Leonardo designed the painting slightly taller, presumably to allow some flexibility in positioning it within the altar frame. This causes the overall format to deviate slightly from the Golden Ratio (0.6074 instead of 0.6108 = about 0.6% deviation).
Geometric Constructions and Compositional References
- If the height of the Golden Rectangle is divided according to the Golden Ratio, this line falls exactly above the figure group at the head of the Madonna (upper orange line)
- If a circle with a diameter equal to the width of the painting is placed below this line, it encloses the figure group, particularly visible at the foot of the left child (lower white circle)
- If the major segment of the Golden Ratio of the painting’s height is again divided according to the Golden Ratio, the line now runs directly through the eyes of the left child (blue point) and touches the angel’s shoulder (lower orange line)
- If a circle with a diameter equal to the painting’s width is drawn on this line (upper white circle), it passes through the left eye of the angel (blue point)
- If the upper circle is moved upward to touch the actual top edge of the painting, i.e., not the top of the Golden Rectangle, it now passes through the angel’s right eye (mouseover)
Golden Ratio in the London Version and Other Works
Due to a legal dispute, the Louvre version of the Virgin of the Rocks was never installed in the altar of San Francesco Grande. Instead, the order received the London version. This version is about ten centimeters shorter, shows hardly any sky at the top, and with an aspect ratio of 0.613 is closer to the ideal of the Golden Ratio (0.618) than the Louvre version (0.607). The lack of details at the upper edge of the Louvre version suggests that this area was meant from the start to be hidden behind the frame. The Louvre today actually displays the work so that the top part is obscured, i.e., exactly the part above the dashed line.
The original altar has not survived. It may have been imprecisely constructed at the top or unfinished in detail. Leonardo may therefore have deliberately designed the painting slightly taller to allow flexibility in vertical placement within the frame. At the bottom, the painting fades to almost black, which also suggests that Leonardo anticipated some reserve space there.
From a geometric perspective, it can be observed that the painting is composed from bottom to top with regard to the layout of the Golden Rectangle. This is demonstrated, for example, by the intersections of the Golden Ratio at the eye of the Baptist and the left eye of the angel. That a circle drawn exactly from the top edge of the painting hits the angel’s right eye, while no other geometric relationships from top to bottom occur, can be interpreted as Leonardo’s subtle indication of the imprecise framing and his comprehensive attention to detail. The use of the Golden Ratio in the painting is clearly not accidental, as evidenced by its application in his other works and further geometric relationships within the Virgin of the Rocks itself (see next section).
It is typical of Leonardo to connect geometry with representation. The eyes of the ermine are intersected by the Golden Ratio of the painting’s width and height
The centerpiece of her necklace divides the height of the painting according to the Golden Ratio (lower orange line). When the major section is again divided by the Golden Ratio, the resulting line passes through the sitter’s namesake head ornament, the ferronière (upper orange line)
The bases of the columns at the edges of the painting lie at the Golden Ratio of the painting’s height. When the major section is again divided by the Golden Ratio, the resulting line passes through both eyes of the Mona Lisa. The vertical centerline intersects her left eye
It is clearly visible that the painting was executed on a rectangular panel and that the upper areas were left unfinished, as these parts were later meant to be concealed by the altar frame
II Golden Spiral
In a Golden Rectangle, the sides are in the proportion of the Golden Ratio. The Virgin of the Rocks was designed as a Golden Rectangle oriented vertically downward. By continuously dividing a Golden Rectangle according to the Golden Ratio, each division creates a square and a smaller Golden Rectangle. If a quarter circle is drawn within each square, a Golden Spiral is formed (see lower illustration). During the Renaissance, a standardized geometric approximation of this spiral was commonly used; the true logarithmic curve deviates only slightly.
Application of the Golden Spiral in the Virgin of the Rocks
Leonardo took the path of the Golden Spiral within a Golden Rectangle into account, which becomes especially evident in the course of the spiral’s diagonals, of which, by definition, there can be only two — a longer and a shorter one:
- the Golden Spiral intersects the concealed right eye of the Christ Child
- the longer diagonal cuts through the brooch on the Madonna’s cloak and touches her right eye
- the shorter diagonal can be shifted upward in parallel so that it passes through both the Madonna’s neck brooch and the right eye of the Baptist (mouseover, dashed line)
When the findings from I are taken into account
- Golden Ratio of the painting’s height passes through the left eye of the Baptist (blue point)
- circle based on this Golden Ratio of the painting’s height passes through the left eye of the angel (mouseover)
it now becomes clear that the eyes of all four figures are connected through the Golden Ratio.
When a Golden Rectangle is divided according to the Golden Ratio (blue horizontal line), it produces another Golden Rectangle (the lower, orange rectangle) and a square (above it). The blue horizontal line corresponds to the line passing through the left eye of the boy John.
The Golden Ratio can also divide the height of the Golden Rectangle in such a way that the square lies at the bottom and the colored rectangle above it
The Golden Spiral is formed when the radius of a circle decreases by a factor of the Golden Ratio with every 90-degree rotation. In the Renaissance, it was usually constructed approximately, as shown here: a Golden Rectangle is repeatedly divided into smaller Golden Rectangles according to the Golden Ratio. These rectangles share the same two diagonals, whose intersection marks the center of the spiral
The left part of the scroll shows a Golden Spiral. The use of the Golden Ratio and its variations is a common design principle in painting and is also frequently employed as a decorative element
III Continuous Halving
In addition to the Golden Ratio, Leonardo also applied the principle of continuous halving in the Virgin of the Rocks. By repeatedly dividing the height and width, he created additional reference lines that closely align with the figures, hands, and eyes.
Proportions through Halving and Division of the Picture Plane
Alongside the Golden Ratio, the painting also demonstrates the principle of continuous halving:
- The diameter of the upper circle divides the painting into the upper arch and a rectangular area below. The half-height of this rectangle runs exactly along the angel’s pointing finger (red horizontal line, blue point).
- The vertical centerline touches the left edge of the Madonna’s neck brooch.
- To the left and right of the centerline, the width of the painting can be divided into quarters (white vertical lines). The left vertical line passes through the left eye of the Baptist, the right vertical through the right eye of the angel.
- When the third quarter from the left is halved into eighths, the line passes through the left eye of the Christ Child.
- When the fifth eighth from the left is halved into sixteenths, the line touches the Madonna’s thumb and runs through the two blessing fingers of the Christ Child.
The divisions of the painting’s width are shown by the scale above the group of figures (black-and-white line). Moreover, the Golden Ratio appears again:
- When the height of the rectangular section below the semicircular top of the painting is divided according to the Golden Ratio, the resulting line intersects the left eye of the angel (mouseover, orange line).
The longest finger of the blessing Christ (the middle finger) and the right elbow of the boy John are positioned exactly at the same height.
- The angel’s pointing finger is located at the Golden Ratio between this height and the left eye of the angel (mouseover).
- The left middle finger of the Christ Child marks exactly two-thirds of the painting’s width.
This once again highlights the significant role of the eyes and hands within the composition. They are not only aligned with the Golden Ratio, as shown earlier, but also mark vertical and horizontal divisions. The two blessing fingers positioned directly beneath the Madonna’s left thumb can be read as Leonardo’s reference to the two proportions central to the composition: the distance between one thumb (Madonna) and two fingers (Jesus) is divided by one pointing finger (angel) according to the Golden Ratio.
Symbolic Meaning: Hands, Fingers, and the Fate of the Baptist
The four hands in the center of the composition can be connected by just two lines: one horizontal line following the angel’s pointing finger toward the folded hands of John, and one vertical line at 9/16 of the painting’s width, running from the Madonna’s thumb to the blessing fingers of the Christ Child. The visual harmony of the painting is thus mirrored in its underlying geometry.
The horizontal extension of the angel’s pointing finger (red horizontal line) runs not only directly above the folded hands of the boy John but also just below his head. The angel’s finger, pointing toward John’s neck (from ancient Greek *ángelos* = “messenger”), alludes to the dramatic fate of the Baptist. He was imprisoned on charges of sedition and beheaded at the request of the beautiful Salome and by order of King Herod after her dance. This Salome is not the same as the Salome mentioned in the Protoevangelium of James. Likewise, this Herod is not the same as the Herod who, according to the New Testament, ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem. The beheading of John the Baptist is a recurring theme in painting. Leonardo’s final painting also shows a similar compositional line beneath John’s head.
The vertical and horizontal lines correspond to the Golden Ratio of the painting’s height and width. A line parallel to the one connecting their intersection point with the index finger runs from the thumb directly beneath the head. Combined with the strikingly tilted position of the head, Leonardo thus alludes to the beheading of the Baptist. The two fingers resting on the chest recall the blessing gesture of the Christ Child in the Virgin of the Rocks
The beheading of the Baptist at the request of Salome, daughter of Herodias, is a recurring motif in painting. Here, Salome is shown beside her mother, who holds the Baptist’s head before her. Salome gazes thoughtfully at the severed head as she draws aside the concealing curtain to reveal what lies behind it
IV Angles and Triangles
In addition to proportions and divisions, Leonardo also employed angular relationships in the Virgin of the Rocks. The eyes of the four figures are arranged in such a way that they form symbolic angles and triangles, which in turn are closely related to classical geometric forms such as the regular pentagon.
Symbolic Angles and Geometric Relations
Leonardo connected the eyes of the figures in the central group through symbolic angles inscribed within a surrounding circle. The eyes of the four figures serve as the basis for four triangles, each constructed according to symbolic angles.
- The eyes of the four figures can be inscribed within a circle that is exactly half the size of the upper bounding circle — that is, half the width of the painting (light blue circle).
- The center of the circle lies vertically below the Madonna’s left eye. It is positioned so that one diameter passes through her right eye and intersects the vertical centerline of the painting (dashed vertical line). The circle was rotated by 6° to achieve this.
- Rotating the circle by another 3.5° creates a diameter that connects the eyes of the angel and the Baptist (dashed horizontal line).
- From the Madonna’s right eye, a 36° angle leads to the Baptist’s right eye; from her left eye, a 72° angle leads to the Christ Child’s left eye (orange lines). The 72° angle is the central angle of a regular pentagon (the 36° angle is half of that, corresponding to the central angle of a regular decagon). A regular pentagon can only be constructed with knowledge of the Golden Ratio.
- From the angel’s eye extends a 108° angle (mouseover, blue triangle). It points toward the Christ Child’s eye and the intersection of the circle with the 72° line representing the Madonna’s gaze toward Jesus (right orange line). The 108° angle (interior angle) is, like the 72° central angle, directly associated with the geometric symbolism of the regular pentagon.
Symbolic Triangles in the Composition
The eyes are placed along the circumference in such a way that they form symbolic triangles (mouseover):
Yellow triangle: 45°, 90°, 45°
Green triangle: 60°, 45°, 75°
Blue triangle: 30°, 60°, 90°
The apex of the yellow triangle (45°, 90°, 45°) deviates by 3.5° from the Madonna’s right eye, yet the triangle is too striking to go unmentioned. The principle of overlapping triangles with symbolic angles is also known from other paintings by Leonardo.
Both triangles have their base along the eye line of the Baptist and the angel. Their positioning demonstrates Thales’ theorem, which states that all triangles inscribed in a semicircle are right-angled
The tip of the angel’s finger touches precisely the right side of the triangle—the side with the 45° angle (below) and the 60° angle (above). A triangle with exactly these angles appears strikingly often in Leonardo’s paintings.
Mathematically noteworthy: among all acute triangles (that is, all angles less than 90°), the 45°–60°–75° triangle is the only one capable of tiling a square seamlessly (proven by Miklós Laczkovich, 1990).
However, it is unlikely that Leonardo was aware of this. It is more probable that he was fascinated by the inner symmetry of the numbers: starting from 60°, by adding or subtracting 15°, one obtains the interior angles of a triangle, two of which are directly related to figures of classical geometry—45° as the diagonal angle of a square and 60° as the interior angle of an equilateral triangle. This corresponds to the pattern of the blue triangle composed of 30°, 90°, and 60°, where 30° is subtracted from or added to the base angle of 60°
The eyes and ears of the ermine form two triangles. The upper one is the specific triangle frequently used by Leonardo (45°, 75°, 60°). The lower one has interior angles of 30°, 120°, and 30°
The eyes and the center parting form a specific triangle (75°, 60°, and 45°) that touches the namesake ferronière on the left. The eye axis and the headband are tilted precisely 3.5° upward to the right (blue and lower white line)
The specific triangle (60°, 45°, 75°) here connects the tip of the wreath and the centers of the spirals at the ends of the scroll
Hidden Motifs
A distinctive feature of Leonardo’s paintings is the presence of hidden motifs that are not immediately visible. They usually reveal themselves only through initiation, contemplation, knowledge, or closer examination. These motifs rarely stand alone in Leonardo’s work but rather complement the narrative of the painting by adding additional layers of meaning.
Leonardo made no distinction between art and science. A forward-facing mouth is positioned in such a way that it forms the eyes of a face. Beyond the mere visual resemblance, Leonardo may have intended to suggest that the eye—like the mouth—takes in nourishment, though in the sense of spiritual nourishment, such as through the reading of books
The legs of Saint Anne in the background could also be interpreted as the legs of a standing Mary
The left half of the face looks directly at the viewer, while the right half looks to the right
Leonardo recommended in the "Book on Painting" to look at a wall in order to stimulate the imagination:
In the same way, you can see there various battles and figures with lively gestures, strange faces and garments, and infinitely many things that you can then reproduce in complete and proper form.
Leonardo had already rendered the figures in the foreground "in complete and proper form"; in his view, this qualification was important for distinguishing good painters from bad ones. The Virgin of the Rocks may have arisen from such a meditation, since the fantastically shaped rock formations in the background play with perceptual illusions.
The Cat
Drawings by Leonardo from just a few years earlier show that he intended to combine the motif of a Madonna with the Christ Child and that of a cat. According to current knowledge, however, Leonardo never realized such a painting. The depiction of a cat in this context is unusual: traditionally, the Christ Child is shown with a lamb, symbolizing his future suffering. Cats, on the other hand, are proverbially known for their keen sight — one speaks of “cat’s eyes” or “eyes like a lynx” (the lynx, like the domestic cat, belongs to the small cat family).
A total of six sketches of this kind exist
Dragons (second row from the bottom, right) usually appear as winged lizards and would—like smaller feline species—have vertically slit pupils, whereas big cats such as lions (Panthera leo) have round ones
Seeing in the Darkness of the Cave
The line of sight of the Baptist and the angel is inclined 9.5° upward to the right (6° + 3.5°, see Animation IV). In the background of the landscape appear two prominent rocks whose silhouettes seem to have been deliberately emphasized. Remarkably, their peaks run parallel to the line of sight of the Baptist and the angel and are likewise connected by a 9.5° angle (Animation A). At this point, it is important to recall the geometric relationships between hands and eyes within the painting. Viewers cannot help but see in the two symmetrical rocks a pair of eyes and easily associate these symmetrical forms with a pair of eyes: dark rocks as pupils, surrounded by the bright light as the whites of the eyes.
The vertically slit shape, however, is unsettling for a human pair of eyes. Vertically slit pupils are extremely rare in the animal kingdom (small feline species, snakes, some lizards). They enable primarily nocturnal predators to achieve extreme light adaptation in darkness and to focus sharply at close range—just as viewers of the painting must observe the Madonna’s brooch from a very short distance in order “to make out whether something can be seen within” (opening quote above). Slit eyes are therefore a symbol of extreme light adaptation in absolute darkness and of concentrated focus.
In keeping with this interpretation, a light-flooded area above the Madonna appears in a feline shape.
It is noteworthy that precisely these three sections—the “eye rocks” aligned at a 9.5° angle (the angle between the right eyes of John the Baptist and the angel) and the feline silhouette on the left—also mark the strongest light-dark contrasts within the cave (see Mouseover A). Thus Leonardo leads the viewer to reflect upon the analogy between form, contrast, and angular relation, and “to make out whether something can be seen within.”
The peaks of both rocks are connected at the same 9.5° angle as the right eyes of the Christ Child John and the angel
Only a few animals have vertically slit eyes: small cats, some snakes, and lizards
The bright area recalls the silhouette of a cat
The silhouette of this cat corresponds to the shape above and to the left of the Madonna
The Baptism
As the patron saint of his hometown Florence, John the Baptist (Italian “San Giovanni”) held great significance for Leonardo. John received his epithet because, at the time of Jesus’ appearance, he baptized the faithful—and eventually Jesus himself. In those days, baptism was performed by immersion in flowing water, symbolizing the cleansing of sins and the preparation for the coming of the Messiah.
In Florence, John was especially venerated:
- The Feast of St. John is still the most important civic holiday in Florence today, celebrated with processions and the competitions of the “Calcio storico” (a predecessor of soccer and rugby)
- Many public places were named after John, including squares, a city gate, guilds, and brotherhoods
- John appeared on every florin, the famous gold coin of Florence, which—thanks to the city’s trading power—became the most important currency in European commerce
- John was also the dedicatee of the famous octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni, the richly decorated baptistery standing directly beside Florence Cathedral.
Leonardo’s first verifiable collaboration on a painting was Verrocchio’s The Baptism of Christ, which depicts John baptizing Jesus. Leonardo’s final painting once again portrays John the Baptist.
The shape of the rocks resembles an upward-open hand. The water flowing around it reinforces associations with a baptism
It takes little imagination to recognize the dark area on the left as the profile of a head
The Wanderers
The Book of Tobit belongs to the deuterocanonical writings of the Bible, meaning it is part of the Catholic and Orthodox canons but not of the Hebrew one.
It tells the story of the pious Tobit, who becomes blind and sends his son Tobias to recover money from a relative. On the journey, he is accompanied by the archangel Raphael, appearing in the form of a young man, and by a dog. By the river Tigris, Tobias catches a fish and, on his companion’s advice, removes its heart, liver, and gall. When they arrive at the relative’s house in Ecbatana, Tobias is to marry his daughter Sara. She has already been widowed seven times, as a demon killed each of her husbands on their wedding night. Raphael advises Tobias to place the heart and liver on a censer in the bridal chamber, upon which the demon is driven away. After returning home, Tobias heals his father’s blindness by applying the remaining fish gall to his eyes. In the end, Raphael reveals himself as an angel. The journey symbolizes the path of life under divine guidance, accompanied by faithfulness (the dog) and healing (the angel and the fish).
In the context of the Virgin of the Rocks, the journey of Tobias can be understood as a call to overcome blindness and demons through a return to nature. Leonardo himself emphasized that nature is the teacher of all things and frequently took short trips into the countryside to study it. The Virgin of the Rocks is the result of these studies of nature and was the first painting to depict nature with such detail and realism that it ceased to be mere decoration and became an equal subject of the composition.
The outlines of the dark rocks resemble two figures shown from behind on a journey. The figure on the left has a large, short-haired head and small angel wings; the figure on the right has long, straight hair and a long dark cloak reaching down to the ground. In the religious context of the painting and considering Leonardo’s surroundings, the motif of Tobias and the Angel naturally suggests itself
Andrea del Verrocchio was Leonardo’s master. The painting shows a typical depiction of the story of Tobias: the Archangel Raphael in conversation with Tobias. Scholars have discussed whether Leonardo might have painted certain parts—such as the dog, the fish, or Tobias’s curls
Filippino’s father, Filippo Lippi, was the teacher of Sandro Botticelli and—like Verrocchio—one of the most important painters in Florence at that time. Filippino Lippi was a friend of Leonardo da Vinci, who was about the same age. The striking similarity in compositional structure to Verrocchio’s depiction indicates a deliberate engagement with that work
Melancholia
Leonardo allowed biographical experiences to flow into his work. The Virgin of the Rocks was his first commission in Milan after leaving Florence in 1482 at the age of thirty. It is often assumed that Leonardo took this step because it was difficult for him to obtain lucrative commissions due to the many competitors. However, this view overlooks two significant events that must have deeply shaped his perception of life in Florence.
Florence – Imprisonment and Outbursts of Violence
Six years earlier, in 1476, Leonardo became entangled in an intrigue against the ruling Medici family. Together with three other men—including a relative of the mother of the Medici ruler—he was accused of homosexuality based on an anonymous report and imprisoned for several weeks. Although he was eventually acquitted, the experience must have shaken Leonardo profoundly.
Two years later, in 1478, during the Pazzi Conspiracy, a brutal assassination attempt against the Medici family took place during Sunday Mass in Florence Cathedral. A rival family of bankers sought to seize power and murdered the ruler’s brother, while Lorenzo de’ Medici himself narrowly escaped death. In the aftermath, Florence descended into a frenzy of violence against the Medici’s enemies, with many conspirators lynched by the populace. The chaos and brutality of those days must once again have left a deep impression on Leonardo.
The Angel as a Response to the Accusers
Against this background, the red and green garments of the angel in the Virgin of the Rocks appear in a new light. They form a striking, colorful contrast to the otherwise dark-toned painting. The bright red cloak accentuates the shape of her buttocks—especially through the unnaturally circular fold of the fabric around them. The lower crease between buttocks and thigh could only occur if the left leg were spread outward and the fabric supported by the thigh, which is not the case. The angel’s posture therefore appears almost sexualized. This interpretation is supported by the position of her right foot, barely visible beneath her left elbow in the darkness. Its orientation and the upright position of the right lower leg indicate that she has moved her knee outward in an opening motion, thus spreading her right leg away from the body. The pronouncedly feminine, nearly sexualized pose of the angel can therefore be read as a possible response to Leonardo’s accusers in Florence, who had charged him with homosexuality.
The Rocks as a Mirror of Imprisonment
Above the Madonna, the dark rock wall opens up like an expression of an inner landscape. As shown earlier, the rock formations are not random appearances but contribute to the painting’s symbolic meaning. The proportions and contours of the broad rock behind the Madonna’s head suggest the profile of a grotesque: its lower jaw appears pushed back by a heavy weight, and its lips seem flattened. Below it lie two circular rock shapes; the one on the right resembles the shoulder of a downward-hanging arm. What might the grotesque be contemplating? The two round forms directly beneath it evoke the image of naked buttocks. Is Leonardo depicting himself here—lying on a prison cot, reflecting on his accusation? On that which “the Florentines find so pleasing—the play from behind”? This figure seems to embody melancholy, that silent companion of creative spirits, regarded during the Renaissance as a sign of intellectual depth.
The position of the angel’s foot and the alignment of the lower leg suggest that she is spreading her right knee outward
It takes little imagination to recognize in the rock formation the profile of a grotesque figure lying on its stomach and staring ahead in melancholy. Its suggested left shoulder appears to be hanging down from a couch or ledge
The two smooth, symmetrical stones, with their hemispherical shape, resemble a bare pair of buttocks; the vertical lines above them recall the folds of a garment that has just been lifted, revealing a naked, full, feminine backside
Madonna Rock
Even today, art history often underestimates the interregional exchange of thoughts and ideas—most often in the form of artworks—during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
In terms of wealth and cultural richness, the region around Flanders (in present-day Belgium), with its trade metropolises Ghent and Bruges, was the northern European counterpart to northern Italy with its centers Milan, Florence, and Venice. There was close exchange between these trade hubs; for instance, the influential Medici Bank maintained a branch in Bruges. At the same time, this period saw the rise of a pan-European art trade through which Netherlandish painting north of the Alps became known in Italy and inspired local artists toward new levels of refinement.
In painting, the Flemish masters excelled through their development of oil painting, which allowed for far greater realism than the fresco technique commonly used in Italy. Leonardo da Vinci himself praised the renowned Jan van Eyck in his Book on Painting as the inventor of oil painting. For a long time, Flemish and Netherlandish painting (van Eyck, Memling, and others) was regarded as the leading art in Europe—until Leonardo, with the Virgin of the Rocks, achieved a level of elegance and beauty never before seen, combined with a masterful composition and a new understanding of nature and light. His principal achievement lay in breathing more life into his figures through dynamic grace and charm than was found in the often rigid or stiffly praying figures of northern Alpine painting. Central to this was his emphasis on the smile—that subtle expression of inner movement that became so characteristic of Leonardo’s figures.
The rock formation resembles a person wearing a floor-length cloak
A lady looks out from a cave open at the top toward two lions, protected by the rock from the evils of the world. The lion, as the “Marzocco,” is the heraldic animal of Florence and, as the “Flemish lion,” the symbol of many Flemish cities (including Bruges, where Memling worked). The scene may allude to the cities of Flanders and Italy—separated by the Alps yet connected through trade. For the Virgin of the Rocks, the right lion’s paw resting on a stone is of particular significance, mirroring the pose of the Christ Child John. A deep trench separates the two lions, just as a similar divide exists between viewer and cave in Leonardo’s painting
Bembo was a diplomat of the Republic of Venice. He spent extended periods in Florence and Bruges, where he moved in the highest circles as an ambassador. In Florence, he was in close contact with the Medici and moved within the same social sphere as Leonardo.
At the Burgundian court in Bruges, Bembo was regarded as a patron of the arts and was a particular supporter of Hans Memling
This drawing provides a concrete example of the exchange between northern Alpine and Italian artists. It is not attributed to Leonardo himself but to one of his pupils—most likely Francesco Melzi. Melzi probably copied a now-lost original by Leonardo
Today it can no longer be determined with certainty whether the drawing or the painting was created first. However, Leonardo had already produced similar grotesque heads and caricatures in earlier sketches. The work exemplifies how closely connected the artistic exchange between Italy and the northern Alpine regions was during this period
Massys was born in Leuven (Louvain) in present-day Belgium, where he also received his training. He later moved to Antwerp, where he became one of the leading painters of his time.
The painting is among the most important works of Flemish-Netherlandish art. In the lower center of the composition, a convex glass reflects a window—a detail reminiscent of the reflection of the window in the brooch of the Virgin of the Rocks (see above)
The Creator
A short text from Leonardo’s notebooks is often associated with the Virgin of the Rocks:
[…] after I had wandered for some time among dark rocks, I came to the entrance of a great cave. I stood for a while before it, filled with wonder and ignorance of its nature; then I bent my back, resting my left hand on my knee, and with my right I shaded my lowered and furrowed brows. I leaned first one way, then the other, to make out whether anything could be seen inside. But I could not, for the great darkness that reigned within. After I had remained there for some time, two feelings arose in me: fear and desire—fear of the threatening dark cave, and the desire to discover whether some marvelous thing might be hidden within.
Leonardo himself never explicitly related this text to the Virgin of the Rocks. Yet because of its artful and poetic language, it seems natural to connect it with the painting. It almost appears as though Leonardo recorded this brief episode as a complement or inner counterpart to the Virgin of the Rocks.
In fact, in the upper third of the painting—in the unnaturally horizontal rock formations that resemble beams in the upper right—one can discern a figure similar to the person described in Leonardo’s poetic text. This figure could represent, as an alter ego, the painter himself, who with a creative gesture transforms the space beneath his hand into something wondrous. Likewise, it could be interpreted as a symbol of the viewer: one who bends over the darkness of the cave “to make out whether something can be seen within.”
Further evidence of Leonardo’s intention to depict such a figure can be found in one of his well-known caricatures, which shows a face strikingly similar to the rock formation. The drawing was probably created for courtly entertainment at the Milanese court and may be connected with the expulsion of the Roma people in 1493 by a ducal edict. It was already widely known during Leonardo’s lifetime, and numerous artists referred to it—including Giorgione, Dürer (who traveled in Italy), and the aforementioned Massys.
The rocks beneath the arch form a perspectively enlarged hand and the grotesque head of an older man. The figure looks down into the cave “to discover whether some marvelous thing might be hidden within."
The caricature shows a man (in the foreground) visiting a fortune teller (on the right), being robbed by an accomplice (on the left), and surrounded by a madman and a companion with a fixed stare
The figure resembles the hidden motif of the grotesque head in the Virgin of the Rocks, formed out of stone: a bald head leaning forward, pronounced eyebrows, pointed nose, broad jawbones, and a wide grin
The Illumination of the Christ Child
Leonardo believed that human bodies could only be painted well if their anatomy was properly understood. He studied in great detail which muscles were engaged in specific movements and how they had to be painted to render a particular motion convincingly. Yet he also played with this knowledge, deliberately inserting errors—so striking that they could hardly have been accidental.
One such “error” can also be found in the Virgin of the Rocks. The focus here is a subtle dark spot on the left shoulder of the Christ Child. Anatomically, it is incorrect: there can be no hollow at that location, as the area is covered by the deltoid muscle—at most, a narrow, vertically running depression could exist.
The purpose of this indentation becomes clear when the painting is viewed in a darkened room with a candle placed nearby. The effect, simulated in Animation B, shows that the Christ Child was painted noticeably brighter than the other figures. The child’s actual head seems to disappear into the darkness of the background, while the shoulder area beneath it transforms into a new head. The seemingly mistaken hollow in the shoulder thus takes on the function of a pair of eyes—the Christ Child now appears to gaze curiously to the right, unmoved by the gestures surrounding it.
This early work by Leonardo already shows how meticulously he studied human anatomy
Leonardo playfully demonstrated his anatomical knowledge here: the Baptist is missing the right collarbone, which should be clearly visible in this posture
The drawing clearly illustrates how Leonardo composed figures. He usually superimposed several views of a figure to simulate motion, developing one of them fully while letting others fade into shadow or transforming them into background elements surrounding the figure
This small-format portrait was created after the Virgin of the Rocks. It is the only portrait by Leonardo that shows a reflection within the pupils. It almost seems as though, in the Christ Child gazing to the right, Leonardo already envisioned his next work
The pupils reflect what the lady sees. She appears to be looking out from a dark cave toward the opening, where the silhouette of a head wearing a hat becomes visible
That Leonardo truly intended to show what the lady sees becomes clear from the fact that the reflection in the other eye depicts the same scene. This initially inconspicuous detail forms a remarkable parallel to the reflection of the window in the brooch of the Virgin of the Rocks
Provenance
The ownership history of the London version can be traced continuously, whereas that of the Paris version remains unclear prior to 1625.
The London Version
The London version was kept in the chapel of the Confraternity in the Church of San Francesco Grande until the chapel was demolished around 1576. After that, the painting remained in the possession of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. In 1785, the work was sold to an English art collector and subsequently changed hands several times in England. The last private owner was Sir Henry Charles Howard, 18th Earl of Suffolk and 11th Earl of Berkshire. He sold the painting to the National Gallery in London in 1880. The side panels created by the de Predis brothers were also acquired by the Gallery in 1898. The National Gallery in London exhibits the painting year-round in Room 66.
The Louvre Version
The commissioners never came into possession of the Louvre version. What happened to the painting after its completion remains unclear. Two theories are discussed regarding how it may have reached France.
Theory I – Wedding Gift for the German King
In the Codex Magliabechiano, often regarded as a manuscript by the famous Leonardo biographer Vasari, it states:
He [Leonardo] painted an altarpiece for Ludovico, the ruler of Milan, and all who have seen the painting declare it to be one of the most beautiful and extraordinary works ever seen in painting. It was sent by the said Duke to the Emperor in Germany.
This altarpiece can only refer to the Virgin of the Rocks, as there is no record of Leonardo working on any other altarpiece in Milan. Accordingly, Leonardo may never have delivered the painting to its original patrons but instead sold it to the Duke of Milan.
Ludovico Sforza had come to power in Milan under questionable circumstances and sought to strengthen his position through a prestigious alliance with the German royal house. Although the Duchy of Milan was effectively independent, it had for centuries been formally a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. The Duke arranged the marriage of his niece Bianca Maria Sforza to the financially troubled German King Maximilian I, and in return he was confirmed as Duke of Milan.
The Virgin of the Rocks may therefore have reached Germany as part of Bianca Maria’s dowry. In 1494, Bianca Maria Sforza married Maximilian I, who from 1508 to 1519 also reigned as Holy Roman Emperor.
Emperor Maximilian I was a member of the House of Habsburg, which at that time held the imperial title. It is conceivable that the Virgin of the Rocks later came to France through Habsburg marriage alliances—for example, through the marriage of the French King Francis I to Eleanor of Austria in 1530. Francis I, who was Leonardo’s last patron from 1516 to 1519, was an ardent admirer of his art and acquired all of Leonardo’s other paintings that today reside in the Louvre.
Alternatively, the painting could have entered France through the marriage of the French King Charles IX to Elisabeth of Austria in 1570.
Apart from the entry in the Codex Magliabechiano, however, no evidence exists that the Virgin of the Rocks was ever actually sent to Germany as a wedding gift from Ludovico Sforza.
Theory II – Remaining in Milan
The statement in the Codex Magliabechiano might not refer to the Virgin of the Rocks, or it could—like other cases—be a misrepresentation of hearsay. In that case, the painting would have remained in Milan and been either purchased by the French royal family or seized during the French occupation of the duchy (1499–1512).
Subsequently, it might have returned to Leonardo’s possession, as he worked from 1508 to 1512 for the French governor of Milan and maintained close personal ties with the French royal house, which even intervened in his favor in an inheritance dispute around 1507.
Against this theory stands the account of diplomat Antonio de Beatis, who visited Leonardo in 1517 shortly before his death at the French court. In his travel diary, he listed the paintings in Leonardo’s possession—among them La Belle Ferronnière, Saint Anne, the Mona Lisa, and Saint John the Baptist—all of which are now in the Louvre. However, he did not mention the Virgin of the Rocks.
This could mean that the painting was already owned by the French king—or, as the Codex Magliabechiano suggests, that it was still located in Germany at the time.
Part of the Royal Collection in France
The Virgin of the Rocks is first documented in France in 1625, when it was catalogued as part of the royal collection at the Château de Fontainebleau. The collection was moved to Versailles under Louis XIV around 1682 and, after the French Revolution, transferred to the Louvre, where the painting remains on display to this day.
In 1806, the painting was carefully removed from its original wooden panel and transferred to canvas. In 2011, the London and Paris versions of the Virgin of the Rocks were exhibited side by side for the first time at the National Gallery in London.
Today, the painting is housed in Room 710 of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre.
Art Historical Significance
The Virgin of the Rocks was a revolutionary work in every respect.
A Quality of Depiction Never Before Seen
In depicting the scene, Leonardo placed the greatest emphasis on the lifelike rendering of light, water, rock, plants, and the human form. Such a level of quality had never before been achieved in painting.
It was also new to elevate nature itself to an equal subject within the composition. Until then, it had been customary to depict the Madonna in an interior or within a landscape defined by architecture.
Leonardo’s first independent work quickly became famous and was widely copied—but the vitality and technical mastery of the original remained unmatched.
Abandonment of Biblical Iconography
The Virgin of the Rocks is the first painting to free a traditionally religious scene from its purely biblical level of meaning and to reinterpret it through a new, humanistic perspective—directed toward the human being itself.
The figures in themselves have no explicitly binding biblical reference. To an unprejudiced viewer, the scene may appear as a timeless family portrayal—free of the transient symbols of ecclesiastical dogma. Leonardo deliberately omits traditional elements of iconography such as halos, staffs, or crosses, and even the angel’s wings are painted so delicately that they can easily be overlooked.
Yet the religious reference remains intact: through subtle symbolism and compositional allusions, it becomes clear that Leonardo is depicting the Madonna with the Christ Child, the infant John the Baptist, and an angel. His contemporaries recognized this at once—yet at the same time, the painting opened a new dimension of seeing, in which the divine and the human are inseparably fused.
Beginning and End
Leonardo was about thirty years old when he began work on the Virgin of the Rocks in 1483—his first demonstrably independent and completed painting. It depicts the infant John, the patron saint of his native city, Florence.
His final work, John the Baptist (around 1513–1519), created about thirty years later, shows the same figure—now as an adult prophet, spiritualized, radiant, and surrounded by a mystical aura.
This temporal and thematic connection suggests that both paintings can be understood as the beginning and end of a cycle. The Virgin of the Rocks presents John shortly after his birth, at the beginning of his life’s mission. Leonardo’s last painting, in turn, shows the mystical transfiguration of the Baptist shortly before his tragic end. Thus it seems that Leonardo conceived his seven unquestionably authentic paintings as parts of a single, continuous narrative.
This sequence reveals a remarkable system: each of the two large group paintings (Virgin of the Rocks and Saint Anne) is followed by two smaller portraits. A symbolically raised pointing finger appears only in three works—the first (Virgin of the Rocks), the central masterpiece (The Last Supper), and the final painting (John the Baptist).
Thus, a circle is completed: beginning, middle, and end form a unified intellectual and compositional order—the legacy of an artist who sought to unite the visible with the invisible
The Brooch in Paintings Attributed to Leonardo
The brooch in the Virgin of the Rocks appears in three other paintings that are today attributed to Leonardo—though his authorship of these works is not undisputed. The brooch is never entirely identical, yet the resemblance is striking. The size of the central gemstone relative to the figures’ body size varies only slightly, while the number of surrounding smaller gemstones always differs. It almost seems as though this very similarity is meant to link the unquestionably authentic Virgin of the Rocks with Leonardo’s disputed paintings.
At the center of this discussion stands, among others, the painting Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting ever sold (around 500 million dollars). It was first documented through a photograph from around 1900, rediscovered around 2005, and extensively restored—so extensively that critics claim it is not a work by Leonardo but by its restorer, Dianne Modestini. Additional evidence, such as geometric inconsistencies, has further fueled doubts about Leonardo’s authorship.
The authorship of Leonardo for the three paintings is disputed
The central gemstone is surrounded here by 26 smaller gemstones (or pearls)
The central gemstone is surrounded here by 15 smaller gemstones (or pearls)
The central gemstone is no longer surrounded by smaller gemstones (or pearls)
He is not universal who does not love all things that belong to painting in the same way. For example, he does not care for landscapes, believing them to be a subject that can be explored quickly and easily. As our Botticelli said, any effort in this regard is in vain, for all one needs is a sponge soaked with various colors, thrown against the wall, which then leaves a stain in which one perceives a beautiful landscape.
It is true that in such a stain one can see various fantastic forms of whatever one wishes to find in it—that is, human heads, different animals, battles, rocky cliffs, seas, clouds, forests, and other similar things. And it happens much like with the sound of bells, from which one can pick out whatever pleases one.
But even if these stains stimulate your imagination, they do not teach you in any way how to work out a detail. And the painter mentioned produced very poor landscapes.
Under these guidelines, however, a new invention should not be missing in superior contemplation, which, even if it appears humble and almost ridiculous, is nevertheless of the greatest use in stimulating the mind toward manifold inventions.
And this happens when you look at some masonry with various stains or with a mixture of different kinds of stones. If you are to imagine a landscape, you can see there images of various landscapes with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, large plains, valleys, and hills of different kinds. Likewise, you can see various battles and figures with lively gestures, strange faces and garments, and countless other things, which you can then reproduce in perfected form and proper shape.
With such masonry and mixtures of stones, it is like with church bells: you find in their ringing every name and every word you can imagine.
Literature
Websites of the exhibiting museums: Louvre Museum, Paris and National Gallery, London
Frank Zöllner, Leonardo, Taschen (2019)
Martin Kemp, Leonardo, C.H. Beck (2008)
Charles Nicholl, Leonardo da Vinci: The Biography, Fischer (2019)
Johannes Itten, Image Analyses, Ravensburger (1988)
The Bible, Einheitsübersetzung, Old and New Testament, Pattloch Verlag (1992)
Particularly recommended
Marianne Schneider, The Great Leonardo Book – His Life and Work in Testimonies, Autobiographical Accounts, and Documents, Schirmer/Mosel (2019)
Leonardo da Vinci, Writings on Painting and All Paintings, Schirmer/Mosel (2011)