The Virgin and Child

Marco d'Oggiono painted this Virgin and Child around 1512 for the National Gallery. As one of Leonardo da Vinci's most faithful Milanese followers, d'Oggiono produced numerous devotional panels that disseminated the Leonardesque style throughout Lombardy and beyond. His compositions faithfully adopt Leonardo's distinctive poses, soft atmospheric modeling, and subtle psychological expression. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.

The panel demonstrates d'Oggiono's adherence to Leonardo's sfumato technique with soft atmospheric modeling, though with the slightly harder contours that distinguish his work from the master's own.