Madonna of the Rocks

In a shadowed grotto of weathered stone and water, the Virgin draws the infant John the Baptist toward the Christ Child, who blesses him, while an angel steadies the child and points - the apocryphal meeting of the two boys during the flight into Egypt. Leonardo binds the four into one pyramid and wraps them in sfumato, the smoke-soft haze that dissolves every edge into atmosphere. The rocks and plants are studied with a naturalist's eye, yet the cave feels primordial, almost prehuman. This is the earlier, Louvre version; Leonardo painted a second, now in London, after a long dispute with the patrons.