Ambrosiana
READING ROOM CLOSURE FROM SEPTEMBER 24 TO 29
Reading room closed from September 24 to 29 included
24/09/2025-29/09/2025
This artwork was one of Cardinal Federico’s favourites, and he wanted it to be shown very prominently in the Ambrosiana collection. In his treatise Musaeum published in 1625, a fundamental document for the history of the original collection, Borromeo himself stated that the model for this panel was the cartoon by Leonardo, now in the National Gallery in London, from which Luini possibly made a partial tracing. To the composition made by the Tuscan genius, Luini added the figure of Saint Joseph to the left of the Virgin.