LEONARDO da Vinci
(b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519, Cloux, near Amboise)

Study of St Anne, Mary and the Christ Child

1503-10
Charcoal, pen and ink on paper, 100 x 85 mm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

St Anne is sitting facing to the left, Mary in her lap is turning towards the right. The Christ Child is turning his head to face St Anne, while Mary is looking at her child in a motherly fashion. With his right arm the boy is holding some object that can no longer be identified. The sketch was produced after the design in Venice and, like the design in London, dates from between 1503 and 1510.