NG London/News & Features: The National Gallery discovers a new Leonardo:
Recent examination of one of the National Gallery’s most popular paintings has unearthed a remarkable discovery.The Gallery’s team of experts have used infrared reflectography to find two distinct underdrawings beneath the surface of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Virgin of the Rocks’. Though one drawing corresponds with the final version of the painting, another shows a completely different picture of a kneeling figure. Her downcast gaze and pious gestures suggest that Leonardo’s initial idea was to depict the Virgin in Adoration of the Christ Child. There is no sign of the baby Jesus, but this could be because Leonardo abandoned this idea before he came to include him.
‘It was an extraordinary moment when we pointed the camera on the Madonna’s face – just to get the settings right because the paint was thin there – and instantly we saw a hand which had no place there. We all had to go away and sit quietly for a bit, just to get our thoughts in order.’
Rachel Billinge, Conservator
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