Leonardo da Vinci and the Virgin of the rocks: one painter, two virgins, twenty-five years

This volume is dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci's commission for the Virgin of the Rocks.

Leonardo completed fewer than 20 paintings in his lifetime, yet he returned twice to this same mysterious subject over the course of a 25 year period.

Identical in terms of iconography, stylistically these paintings are worlds apart.

The first, of c.1482-4, was Leonardo's magnum opus, catapulting the young artist from obscurity to fame.

When, in 1508, he finished the second he was nearing the end of his painting career and was an international celebrity.

Why did he revisit the Virgin of the Rocks? What was the meaning behind the cavernous subterranean landscape?