The figures are set in a dark interior with two arched openings, as in Leonardo's earlier Madonna of the Carnation, and a mountainous landscape in aerial perspective can be seen beyond.

On a drawing in the Uffizi Leonardo noted that he had begun “two Virgin Maries” in late 1478 and an inventory of his studio written in 1482 (part of the Codex Atlanticus) again mentions two paintings of “Our Lady”.

[1] The Virgin's head in the Madonna Litta could be described either way, and it has therefore been argued that the painting was begun in Leonardo's first Florentine period and left unfinished until it was later worked up by a pupil in Milan.

[6] Two other drawings, in metalpoint with white lead highlights on blue prepared paper, are attributed to a follower of Leonardo, usually considered to be Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio.

A further related drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, attributed to Boltraffio, is of the Virgin's face in strict profile and does not resemble the finished painting in the Hermitage.

[citation needed] In 1784, the earliest secure date in its provenance, the painting was bought by Prince Alberico XII di Belgioioso [it] from one Giuseppe Ro.

In 1865 the Russian Tsar Alexander II acquired the panel from Count Antonio Litta,[12] quondam minister to Saint Petersburg, for the Hermitage Museum, where it has been exhibited to this day.