Three generations in one painting

Follow the figures down through the painting. Saint Anne is Mary’s mother. Mary, in turn, reaches towards her son, the child Jesus. He is close to a lamb. Three generations are drawn together through leaning bodies, hands and exchanged attention. Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance artist, worked on this painting in the early sixteenth century. He gives you a family whose figures seem to flow into one another. Try tracing Mary’s movement with your eye. Her body inclines, her arm reaches, and your attention follows towards the child. Then look beyond the figures. The distant landscape feels softer and less distinct than the family nearby. Leonardo lets edges and tones change gently as the space recedes. Compare a face with the far distance and notice where the outlines become harder to follow. Return to the family once more. Each figure has a place in the group, but their gestures keep joining them together. That combination of closeness and movement gives a religious subject the warmth of people attending to one another.