The Virgin Mary sits on her mother's lap, her attention focused on the wriggling Christ Child. Her mother, Saint Anne, looks intently at her through deep-set eyes and points upwards to the heavens, indicating the child's divinity. Christ's cousin, Saint John the Baptist, leans against Anne's lap as the baby Christ tickles his chin.

Drawing was a crucial part of Leonardo's artistic process and he produced numerous small-scale studies of animals, human anatomy and landscapes. In fact, we know more about Leonardo as an artist from his drawings than from his paintings, as so few of those survive. This work is particularly important as it is the only surviving large-scale drawing by the artist. Unlike his studies, it is a highly finished composition, and it may be the only record we have of a now-lost painting.

Sheets of paper this large did not exist when Leonardo was alive, so he joined numerous pieces together -- the joins are apparent on close inspection. Parts of the drawing are highly finished while other areas, like Anne's pointing hand, were simply left as outlines. This shows us how Leonardo began by creating rough outlines of the shapes of parts of the body and then, using light and shade, gradually built them up into more rounded shapes. Parts of the drawing are densely shaded and contrasted with lighter areas to give a three-dimensional effect (a technique known as chiaroscuro), for example the figures' faces and elements of the draperies such as sections of the Virgin's sleeve and the folds of fabric which cover Saint Anne's knees.

In order to avoid harsh lines Leonardo blurred the contours of the forms, and the resulting smoky effect is called sfumato. He used it in his paintings too, for example The Virgin with the Infant Saint John the Baptist adoring the Christ Child accompanied by an Angel ('The Virgin of the Rocks'). Around the eyes, this blurring produces a mysterious effect that intensifies the gazes of the figures, expressing Leonardo's idea that the thoughts (moti mentali, or 'motions of the mind') of painted figures should be visible on their faces. As she points upwards, Saint Anne reveals the mystery of Christ's being -- he is both human and divine. The focus on her eyes, which are so deeply in shadow, seems to emphasise his extraordinary identity.

This large drawing is a cartoon, that is, a full-size study for a painting. Contrary to what might be expected of a cartoon, the drawing is neither pricked nor incised to allow for the design to be transferred from the paper to the painting support. This implies that the cartoon was not made in preparation for use in the creation of a painting itself. Instead, the delicate modelling, particularly of the faces, suggests that it was a presentation drawing, intended as a work of art in its own right, to be shown to patrons in order to approve or gain a commission.

The drawing has traditionally been dated to around 1499-1500, based on a famous account related by the art-historian and painter, Giorgio Vasari, which described a cartoon by Leonardo being displayed in Florence in 1501 which drew crowds of people to see it. Technical and stylistic evidence, however, suggests that the Burlington House Cartoon might more plausibly be dated around 1506-8, when Leonardo was working in Milan. The presence of Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist indicates that the work was most likely produced for a Florentine context, since both saints were widely venerated in the city. Leonardo may have made the drawing in Milan and submitted it as a proposal for an altarpiece for the Sala del Gran Consiglio in Florence’s Palazzo della Signoria (now known as the Palazzo Vecchio). An altarpiece for the Sala had been commissioned in 1498 from Filippino Lippi, but by the time of his death in 1504, only the frame of the planned painting had been delivered. Leonardo would surely have been aware of this, since he had started work on designing and painting a mural depicting The Battle of Anghiari for the chamber from 1503 onward. He may have made the Burlington House Cartoon to compensate for abandoning work on the mural following his move to Milan in 1506. The commission for the altarpiece was ultimately awarded to Fra Bartolommeo in 1510.

The composition of the drawing is related to other works in Leonardo’s oeuvre. At the Musée du Louvre in Paris, for instance, a painting by the artist begun in around 1503, shows the Virgin seated on her mother's lap. However, it is different to this cartoon in some ways: the Virgin's legs hang down to her left and she reaches over her mother to grasp the Christ Child, who play-fights with a small lamb (which appears in the place of the toddler John the Baptist). A small-scale sketch in the British Museum, London, shows Leonardo rapidly experimenting with ideas for this unusual grouping of intertwined figures. The sketch, dense with repeated strokes, was obviously worked-over many times, and it shows Leonardo trialling a variety of poses and combinations of figures; he seems to have changed his mind about the lamb and drawn over it, transforming its tail into Saint Anne's pointing finger.

Style: High Renaissance