“Virgin and Child with Young St John the Baptist” by Workshop of Leonardo da Vinci

“Virgin and Child with Young St John the Baptist” by the Workshop of Leonardo da Vinci depicts the Madonna and Child Jesus with the infant John the Baptist in a rock garden setting. The painting is believed to be from the Workshop of Leonardo da Vinci and has many similar elements to Da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks.”

The composition shows a grouping of three figures, the Virgin Mary, the Christ child, the infant John the Baptist, in a triangular formation. The setting is a background of rocks with some trees and a distant landscape of mountains and water.

Mary occupies the pyramidal figure group’s apex, stretching out both hands to include John and the Christ child. The two children appear indistinguishable.

Some authorities have also attributed this painting to Marco d’Oggiono. Marco d’Oggiono (c. 1470 – c. 1549) was an Italian Renaissance painter and a chief pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, many of whom he copied.

John the Baptist

John the Baptist (late 1st century BC – 28–36 AD) was an itinerant Jewish preacher in the early 1st century AD. John the Baptist is revered as a religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Bahá’í Faith, and Mandaeism. He is called a prophet by these faiths and is honored as a saint in many Christian traditions.

John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself, and the Gospels portray John as the precursor of Jesus. According to the New Testament, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth were relatives.

John used baptism as the central symbol of his pre-messianic movement. John baptized Jesus, and some of Jesus’ early followers had previously been followers of John.

According to the New Testament, John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas sometime between 28 and 36 AD after John rebuked him for divorcing his wife and then unlawfully wedding the wife of his brother.

“Virgin and Child with Young St John the Baptist” by Workshop of Leonardo da Vinci

Title: Virgin and Child with Young St John the Baptist
Artist: Workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, Attributed to Marco d’Oggiono
Created: 1490-1495
Media: Oil on Wood Panel
Dimensions: 113.3 x 76.5 cm
Type: Biblical Art
Museum: Museum of Fine Arts Budapest

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian genius whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, mathematics, engineering, science, music, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography.

He is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time, although fewer than two-dozen paintings attributed to him exist.

He did not paint more because his interests were so vast and varied that he wasn’t a prolific painter.

Leonardo da Vinci

Name: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
Born: 1452 – Vinci, Republic of Florence (present-day Italy)
Died: 1519 (aged 67) – Amboise, Kingdom of France
Movement: High Renaissance
Masterpieces:
- Mona Lisa
- The Last Supper
- Ginevra de’ Benci
- The Virgin and Child with St. Anne
- Virgin of the Rocks(The National Gallery, London)
- Virgin of the Rocks (Louvre, Paris)
- Madonna Litta
- Madonna of the Carnation
- Lady with an Ermine
- La belle ferronnière
- St John the Baptist
Copies or from Workshop of Leonardo da Vinci
- The Battle of Anghiari – Copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Lost Painting
- “Leda and the Swan” by Cesare da Sesto, after Leonardo da Vinci
- “Leda and the Swan” after Leonardo da Vinci, Attributed to Il Sodoma
- “Leda and the Swan” by Francesco Melzi, after Leonardo da Vinci
- “Virgin and Child with Young St John the Baptist” by Workshop of Leonardo da Vinci
“The Baptism of Christ” by Verrocchio and Leonardo