The Virgin and Child with Saint John

The Virgin and Child with the infant Saint John the Baptist creates a devotional group of tender intimacy in this painting from 1517 at the National Gallery by Bernardino Luini. Luini, the leading painter in Milan after Leonardo da Vinci's final departure, absorbed Leonardo's sfumato technique so thoroughly that his works were frequently confused with the master's well into the nineteenth century. His Madonna groups achieve a sweetness and grace that made them immensely popular.

Luini's technique closely follows Leonardo's sfumato method, with soft atmospheric transitions that dissolve contours into ambient light. The Madonna's face displays the gentle, downcast expression and subtle smile that derive from Leonardo's types. The palette is warm and harmonious, with flesh tones of particular delicacy and drapery in soft, modulated blues and reds.