Virgen del clavel

This is very early Leonardo, painted around 1475 when he was barely into his twenties and still working in the Florence workshop of his master Verrocchio. The Virgin holds up a red carnation for the Christ child, who reaches for it, and the flower is a quiet sign of the Passion still to come. What already marks it as Leonardo is the window behind them, opening onto a range of pale, misty blue mountains that fade softly into the distance, an early try at the atmospheric depth he would spend his life perfecting. Look closely at the crystal vase of flowers on the ledge, painted with a jeweller's patience. There's a flaw the panel has carried for centuries. The paint in the Virgin's face has cracked and blistered, most likely because the young painter was experimenting with his oils and something in the mixture failed over time. The picture surfaced in a Swiss family's possession in the 19th century before the Munich museum acquired it.