Arts News: Leonardo da Vinci

It was recently discovered at the National Gallery in London that The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci was covering another previously unknown work by the master.

Through the use of Infrared reflectography, scientists revealed two drawings beneath the surface of the painting. One was an initial sketching of the painting itself, but the second was a completely independent piece. The phantom portrait depicts a woman kneeling, and looking down at what is believed to be a sleeping infant.

The Virgin of the Rocks is one of Leonardo da Vinci's most controversial works, mostly because two versions of the painting exist. One is a full scale version and resides at the Louvre in Paris. The other is a smaller version that hangs at the National Gallery in London.

The piece at the National Gallery in London was originally commissioned in 1483 as an altarpiece for a chapel of the Milanese Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, but the order wouldn't acquire their version for nearly 25 years.

According to art historians, when the painting was near completed Leonardo requested a bonus. His wishes were never met, and as a result he sold the painting privately. The originally commissioned piece ultimately ended up at the Louvre.

Eventually the Milanese Confraternity demanded their altarpiece, thus Da Vinci began working once again. However, Da Vinci started a completely different picture: the Adoration of the Christ Child, which is the painting that experts believe to be beneath the Virgin of the Rocks at the National Gallery. As the story goes, the members of the confraternity denounced the piece, and requested that Leonardo create a second Virgin of the Rocks. Da Vinci agreed, and completed a recreation of the original piece, which was presented to the confraternity in 1508, and currently hangs at the National Gallery in London.