Madonna Litta

Sometime in the 1490s, a quiet scene of motherhood took shape on this small panel: Mary cradling the infant Christ as she feeds him. The painting gets its name from the Litta family of Milan, who kept it for generations before it made its way to the Hermitage Museum in Russia, where it hangs to this day. Leonardo da Vinci is credited as the artist, though many scholars think his students handled much of the brushwork while the master shaped the overall design and added a few finishing touches. That was normal in Renaissance workshops, where a big name usually meant a whole team of hands behind the scenes.

The little details reward attention. The baby turns his eyes toward us even as he nurses, his soft curls glowing in the light, and Mary wears the calm, downcast expression that Leonardo returned to again and again. Behind them, two arched windows frame a misty blue landscape that pulls the eye deeper into the scene and adds a sense of stillness. Tucked in the child's hand is a small goldfinch, which meant more than it might seem. People of the time knew the bird as a sign of Christ's coming sacrifice.

Modest in size and meant for private prayer rather than a towering church wall, the picture keeps things personal. Regardless of how much of it Leonardo painted himself, the bond between mother and child comes through with a tenderness that still reads clearly all these years later.