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Also, Leonardo used different shades of color—light and dark (chiaroscuro) —to create
his figures. For example, Mary's “blue” dress ranges from almost black navy-blue (the
folds) to nearly white powder-blue (the raised areas). These create the illusion of a three-
dimensional body rising cameo-like from the dark background. Leonardo accentuates the
contrast between the shadowy “valleys” of the folds and the brightly lit “hills” to make the
folds seem unnaturally deep.
Litta Madonna (1490-1491) : Mary nurses Baby Jesus, gazing down proudly. Jesus
keeps locked onto Mary's breast but turns outward absentmindedly—dreamy-eyed with
milk—to face the viewer, drawing us into the scene. The highlight of the painting is clearly
Mary's radiant face, gracefully tilted down and beaming with tenderness.
Having left Florence, Leonardo settled in Milan (c. 1482-1499). At the same time he
was creating the Litta Madonna , he was also painting his famous Last Supper, creating
the largest bronze equestrian statue of the Renaissance, inventing a hang-glider, and filling
notebooks with sketches like the Vitruvian Man. Leonardo managed his own workshop,
and this Madonna may have been done in collaboration with his prize student, Boltraffio.
As was his practice, Leonardo made preliminary sketches to work out the various details
of Mary's face and the baby's legs and position on his mother's lap (a surviving sketch of
Mary's head is in the Louvre).
Compare the Litta Madonna and Benois Madonna —each is a slight variation on a pop-
ular theme. Both are set in dark interiors lit by windows looking out on a distant land-
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