Gallery assistant Clare McCormack poses for photographers next to “The Madonna of the Yarnwinder” by Leonardo da Vinci during a photocall at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland. This little panel is probably identical with one described in a letter dated 14 April 1501 from Fra Pietro da Novellara, head of the Carmelite order in Florence, to Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua and avid patron and collector of art. There has been much debate regarding the extent of Leonardo’s direct involvement in the painting, but it seems likely that the overall design, and the execution of the figures and the foreground rocks, are entirely his. That some of these reappear in early copies and variants of the composition supports the idea that the background may have been left unfinished by Leonardo and completed only later.

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