Marching through cobbled streets on a bitterly cold day in February, Maria passed few people. Those she did were all hurrying to get out of the snow-covered ground and the biting wind that blew into Milan from the Alps to the north. Only a group of children throwing snowballs seemed to be enjoying themselves. Maria wrapped her fur coat around her and headed in the direction of Leonardo’s workshop.
Inside the workshop Francesco, engaged in painting the baby John the Baptist for the second Madonna of the Rocks, let the weight of his brush fall gently on the babe’s chubby face. Apart from the baby John, the background had been painted but the figures of the infant Jesus, the Madonna and angel had still to be executed and remained in cartoon form.
Madonna of the Rocks‘Let more light breathe
