The artwork entitled “Study of St. Anne, Mary, the Christ Child and the young St. John” is a masterful sketch by the venerated Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. Completed circa 1503 in Florence, Italy, this piece is exemplary of the High Renaissance period, which is renowned for its emphasis on harmony, balance, and the perfecting of human representation in art. Leonardo da Vinci employed ink on paper as his medium for this study, which serves as a preparatory work for a more finished piece. The genre of this artwork is classified as a sketch and study, which underscores its role in the artist’s iterative process.
The artwork depicts a tender and intimate familial grouping. It presents St. Anne, the Virgin Mary’s mother, as a central figure. She sits with grace and maternal calm, her gaze directed toward the figures before her. Mary, shown with an affectionate posture, reclines in St. Anne’s lap, while the Christ Child and the young St. John engage with each other in the foreground. The dynamic between the figures is fluid and natural, indicative of Leonardo’s keen interest in conveying human emotion and familial relationships.
Da Vinci’s characteristic sketching technique is evident, as he uses loose and expressive lines to delineate forms and suggest movement. The interplay of light and shadow, although in its nascent stage in this sketch, already hints at the artist’s talent for three-dimensionality and texture. Several architectural elements and landscape features can be discerned in the background, though they are sketched with less detail than the figures, indicating that the artist’s focus was primarily on the composition of the central characters. The presence of rapid gestural marks also suggests Leonardo’s exploration of different poses and arrangements as he developed his final composition elsewhere.
