Virgin and Child, known as 'Virgin with Fruits'

1478

Pen and brown ink, brown wash over stylus and metal point (lead?) lines. Sheet damaged by the use of metal-gallic ink whose tannin has eaten away the fiber. Infrared reflectography shows that the contours of the Child's body are dotted with a series of spolvero dots, a rare process for moving from drawing to drawing. The spolvero dots are abundant in the lower part of the Child and along his left arm, they are rarer around the head and completely absent along the right arm and around the Virgin. Leonardo then began to sketch his project in lead point (numerous incisions and intensification of the remains of lead powder in infrared reflectography) by studying several projects for the orientation of the Child's head and the position of the right arm. Then he took up the most interesting contours with a pen and then took up the lower part of the Child's body by multiplying the projects for the placement of the legs.

35.8 x 25.2 cm

RF 486, Recto

Image and text © Musée du Louvre, 2025