Bianca Maria Sforza

Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, who collaborated with Leonardo on the Virgin of the Rocks altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in Milan, created this work around 1493, now in Washington's National Gallery of Art. This work reflects the artistic culture of Milan during the High Renaissance, when the innovations of the early fifteenth century reached their mature expression in works of unprecedented technical and compositional sophistication.

Accomplished tempera technique is evident in the smooth modeling of forms and the controlled color harmonies, with the composition following the spatial principles developed by fifteenth-century Italian workshops.