In 1939, Kenneth Clark discussed Leonardo da Vinci's two versions of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne: the painting in Paris, at the Musée du Louvre, and the cartoon in London, then still at the Royal Academy in Burlington House and now at the National Gallery. Clark concluded: 'By common consent the Burlington House cartoon is one of Leonardo's most beautiful works.'
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) 
Despite this 'common consent,' the origin and date of the 'Burlington House Cartoon', as it has since become known, has puzzled scholars for generations. For a long time, it was believed to date from around 1499–1500, representing an early (and ultimately dismissed) version of the cartoon made in preparation for the Louvre painting. More recently, however, it has been argued convincingly that it was not made until around 1506–1508 and that it was, in fact, an independent project.
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
c.1501–1519, oil on wood by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) 
The cartoon arrived in this country in the eighteenth century. By 1790, it is recorded in the collection of the Royal Academy. In 1962, it was acquired by the National Gallery, thanks to a public appeal organised by the Art Fund (then known as the National Art Collections Fund).
The largest surviving drawing by Leonardo, the cartoon shows the Virgin seated side-saddle on the lap of her mother, Saint Anne, turning to support the Christ Child, who blesses the infant Saint John the Baptist.
The cartoon is made up of eight sheets of paper glued together and subsequently lined with canvas. Leonardo prepared the surface with a reddish-brown ground and worked up the composition in charcoal, adding highlights in white and paying close attention to the modelling of the figures, especially the heads. Other areas, such as the feet or the pointing hand of Saint Anne, remain unresolved.
There is no evidence that the cartoon was ever pricked or incised to transfer the design as might be expected from a functional cartoon. Instead, it might best be described as a full-scale presentation drawing, which was appreciated as a work of art in its own right. But why did Leonardo make the cartoon, and for whom?
In 1503, Leonardo had been commissioned by the Florentine government to paint a mural in the newly constructed Sala del Gran Consiglio depicting Florence's victory over the Milanese at the battle of Anghiari. Over the following months, Leonardo made good progress preparing the cartoon for the mural, and by June 1505 he had started painting in the Sala del Gran Consiglio.
In May 1506, however, he was summoned to Milan by the French Governor, Charles II d'Amboise. According to an agreement with the Florentine government, Leonardo was to return within three months to complete work on the mural.
Following negotiations to extend Leonardo's sojourn in Milan, the head of the Florentine government, Piero Soderini, clearly growing impatient with the situation, wrote to complain that Leonardo 'has not behaved as he should have with this republic, because he has taken a good portion of the money and has made a small beginning of a large work he was supposed to do.'
Leonardo eventually returned to Florence in the summer of 1507 but did not stay for long. He was back in Milan by Easter 1508.
A few years earlier, in 1498, the Florentine government commissioned an altarpiece for the very same room, the Sala del Gran Consiglio, from Filippino Lippi. By the time the artist died in April 1504, only the altarpiece's frame had been delivered.
It was not until 26th November 1510, over six years later, that the Florentine government formally reassigned the commission to Fra Bartolomeo. He began work on the panel but, following the fall of the Republic and the return of the Medici in 1512, only completed the monochrome underpainting.
Pala del Gran Consiglio
1510, oil on board by Fra Bartolomeo (1472–1517) 
The unfinished altarpiece shows the Virgin and Child surrounded by various saints associated with the Republic of Florence, most notably, at the centre of the composition, Saint Anne and the infant Saint John Baptist – the very group depicted in Leonardo's Burlington House Cartoon.
Given that the so-called Pala del Gran Consiglio was intended for the same room in which he had started painting The Battle of Anghiari, Leonardo would have been aware of the lack of progress regarding the commission. And given that Piero Soderini had become increasingly frustrated over the unfinished mural, Leonardo was under considerable pressure by 1507.
It is therefore tempting to suggest that Leonardo made the cartoon as a proposal for the central group of the Signoria's planned altarpiece, ready to present to the Florentine government upon his return to Florence, in lieu of the abandoned mural.
Leonardo was probably never officially appointed to work on the altarpiece, which would explain why his name does not appear in relation to the altarpiece in the archives. If Leonardo presented the Burlington House Cartoon to the Florentine government upon his return from Milan in 1507, he did so unprompted and on his own account.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
According to the artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari, Leonardo exhibited a cartoon of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the infant Saint John the Baptist in Florence. He described that 'men and women, young and old, continued for two days to flock for a sight of it to the room where it was, as if to a solemn festival, in order to gaze at the marvels of Leonardo, which caused all those people to be amazed.'
It seems likely the Burlington House Cartoon is the drawing described by Vasari. Made in Milan, but intended for Florence, it may have been the very work presented to the wondering gaze of the curious public upon Leonardo's return to Florence in 1507.
Per Rumberg, The Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department, National Gallery, London
Nicholas Flory, Simon Sainsbury Curatorial Fellow, National Gallery, London
This content was funded by the Bridget Riley Art Fund
The Burlington House Cartoon was on view in the exhibition 'Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c.1504' at the Royal Academy until 16th February 2025
