Which Renaissance artist painted the Louvre’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne?

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Louvre’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.

The oil painting presents Saint Anne, her daughter Mary, the infant Jesus, and a lamb in a layered family group. Mary sits on Anne’s lap and leans toward Christ, while the child reaches toward the lamb, a symbol connected with his future sacrifice.

Leonardo worked on the composition for many years, probably beginning around 1503 and continuing into the second decade of the sixteenth century. The soft transitions of light and shadow, atmospheric landscape, and complex interlocking poses show his mature approach to painting.

The work is in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is distinct from Leonardo’s London painting known as The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, which is a cartoon rather than the finished Louvre panel. The painting’s exact commission history remains debated.