The Virgin with the laughing Child

This sculpture is one of the most famous pieces in the Victoria and Albert Museum - and yet we are not certain who modelled it. The leading fifteenth-century Florentine sculptors Antonio Rossellino, Andrea del Verrocchio and Desiderio da Settignano are amongst those who have been named. The terracotta was for many years attributed to Rossellino, but when the sculpture was lent for the first time to an exhibition in Florence in spring 2019, scholars presented an attribution to the young Leonardo da Vinci, while he was in Verrocchio's workshop (c.1472). This idea was first put forward in 1899, and won favour for several years. The maker intriguingly combines stylistic elements from each of the named sculptors. But the emphasis on the human relationship between mother and child and the naturalistic treatment of the subject are typical of the time.