Madonna of the Yarnwinder
| Madonna of the Yarnwinder (The Buccleuch Madonna) |
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| Artist | Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and another artist |
| Type | Oil on walnut |
| Dimensions | 48.3 cm × 36.9 cm (19.0 in × 14.5 in) |
| Location | Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh (on long-term loan from the Duke of Buccleuch’s collection) |
| Owner | Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch |
| Madonna of the Yarnwinder (The Lansdowne Madonna) |
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| Artist | Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and another artist |
| Type | Oil on panel (transferred to canvas and later re-laid on panel) |
| Dimensions | 50.2 cm × 34.6 cm (19.8 in × 13.6 in) |
| Location | Private collection, United States |
The Madonna of the Yarnwinder (Italian: Madonna dei Fusi, “Madonna of the Spindles”) is a subject depicted by Leonardo da Vinci in at least one, and perhaps two paintings begun in 1499 or later. Leonardo was recorded as being at work on one such picture in Florence in 1501 for Florimond Robertet, a secretary to King Louis XII of France. This may have been delivered to the French court in 1507, though scholars are divided on this point. The subject is known today from several versions of which two, called the Buccleuch Madonna and the Lansdowne Madonna, are thought to be partly by Leonardo’s hand. The underdrawings of both paintings show similar experimental changes made to the composition (or pentimenti), suggesting that both evolved concurrently in Leonardo’s workshop.
The composition shows the Virgin Mary seated in a landscape with the Christ child, who gazes at a yarnwinder used to collect spun yarn. The yarnwinder serves both as a symbol of Mary's domesticity and as a foreshadowing of the Cross on which Christ was crucified. The painting's dynamic composition and implied narrative was highly influential on later High Renaissance depictions of the Madonna and Child by artists such as Raphael and Andrea del Sarto.
The earliest reference to a painting of this subject by Leonardo is in a letter of 14 April 1501 by Fra Pietro da Novellara, the head of the Carmelites in Florence, to Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua. Leonardo had recently returned to his native city following the French invasion of Milan in 1499; the intervening years he had spent first in Isabella’s court, during which brief stay he produced a cartoon (now in the Louvre) for a portrait of her, and then in Venice. Isabella was determined to get a finished painting by Leonardo for her collection, and to that end she instructed Fra Pietro, her contact in Florence, to press Leonardo into agreeing to a commission. Two letters of reply by the friar survive. In the second, written after he had succeeded in meeting with the artist, he writes that Leonardo has become distracted by his mathematical pursuits and is busy working on a small painting for Florimond Robertet, which he goes on to describe:
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Wikipedia