Room 51a

Charcoal shadows and white chalk give the figures their rounded forms in Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon. Mary sits with her mother, Saint Anne, while the infant Christ reaches towards the young John the Baptist. Follow the overlapping bodies before looking at the less finished areas around them. A cartoon is a full-scale drawing, often made in preparation for a painting. This one has no pricked or incised outlines for transferring its design. Its careful modelling suggests it could have been presented to a prospective patron as a work in its own right. It is assembled from eight sheets of paper. Return through Room 51 to continue into the other Sainsbury galleries.