Leonardo da Vinci

(Anchiano, 1452 - Amboise, 1519)

Circle of

Oil on panel

cm. 45x36. Framed

This panel represents a refined Madonna dei fiori, executed within Leonardo da Vinci’s immediate circle during his Milanese period. The composition derives from a Leonardesque invention already formulated in the Madonna del Garofano and presents the Christ Child as consciously aware of his salvific destiny, conveyed through the act of gathering the flowers and his direct, engaging gaze toward the viewer. The painting belongs to a group of Leonardesque variants of the subject, while remaining distinct from the better-known versions associated with Marco d’Oggiono and Bernardino de’ Conti. On the basis of stylistic and physiognomic affinities—particularly in the Child’s features, which recall a drawing attributed to Ambrogio de’ Predis in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana—the work may be attributed to Ambrogio de’ Predis or to an artist active within his immediate circle, in the context of Leonardo’s Milanese workshop between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.