Leonardo da Vinci
The Litta Madonna, symbol of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, is on a rare loan to the Poldi Pezzoli Museum as part of the celebration for the fifth centenary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death.
The painting is closely related to Milan, where it was painted in around 1490 during Leonardo’s stay at the court of Ludovico il Moro. The Litta Madonna takes its name from the Litta collection, an important Milanese art collection once housed in a palace in Corso Magenta. The painting, with the Virgin suckling the Child, is of extraordinary quality. It was painted for the private devotion of a rich and refined patron, as shown by its composition, its execution, and the precious pigments, especially the ultramarine blue (made with the very expensive ground lapis lazuli) used by the artist for the Virgin’s mantle and for the sky behind the windows.
In 1865, the painting was sold by Antonio Litta Visconti Arese (1819–1866) to the Hermitage Museum. The great number of copies of and derivations from the Litta Madonna in Lombardy in the first half of the 15th century shows the popularity of this painting among the artists of the time. Scholars have been discussing its attribution to Leonardo since the 19th century.
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- Zuzanna & DailyArt team
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