Madonna Litta

Madonna Litta

The Madonna takes its name from Alberto Litta Visconti Arese who received it as compensation for an assignment and who probably wanted it precisely because of the similarity to her name (Madonna del latte – Litta). She is a typically Leonardesque style Madonna with two large windows opening a wall of shadow and surrounding the Mother and her son with soft light. Jesus drinks mother’s milk and holds a goldfinch (or a robin) in his hand, a symbol of his passion (the goldfinch because, according to a legend, he too gets bloodied to eat what gives him its name – the thistle – the robin because, according to another legend, the little bird stained its breast red with a drop of Christ’s blood when it pulled out a thorn from its crown with its beak. In the Middle Ages, children used to play with a little bird held in a lace.

 

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