Madonna of the Rocks

Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna of the Rocks, 1483, High Italian Renaissance.

1) Commissioned by the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, a group of women who believed in the idea of the Immaculate Conception and were devoted in protecting it. They initially requested a plain triptych of Mary and Jesus, but ended up with this 

2) Leonardo was one of the first artists to remove halos from religious figures

3) Tells the extrabiblical story of Jesus and John the Baptist meeting for the first time; John is praying to and is being blessed by Jesus