Leonardo and the Litta Madonna

On the occasion of the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the beautiful Litta Madonna from the collections of the Hermitage.

The five-hundred year anniversary of the death of Leonardo finds one of its most significant moments in the return of the Litta Madonna to Milan, where it was painted.Its display at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, alongside other works from the Litta Collection, brings together a group of precious paintings, drawings and prints by the most talented students and followers of the master that, while shedding light on the production methods of his atelier, also offers the measure of the success of the Leonardesque prototype, reinterpreted in masterpieces by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Marco d’Oggiono, Francesco Napoletano, the Master of the Sforza Altarpiece and other anonymous followers between the late 1400s and the early 1500s.

Essays and entries by authoritative scholars on the work of Leonardo and his circle enrich this publication edited by Andrea Di Lorenzo and Pietro C. Marani.

Andrea Di Lorenzo art historian and curator at Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan.

Pietro C. Marani, considered one of the leading experts on Leonardo, is professor of Modern art history at the Milan Politecnico. He was co-director of the restoration work for The Last Supper and co-author of the exhibition catalogues on Leonardo at Milan in 2015 and at the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum in 2013.