Probably produced around 1502–1503, although some researchers put the date back to between 1508 and 1511, this set belongs to a group of studies that enabled the painter to create the draft for the painting at the same period.

[3] The document features eight croquis, each representing the whole or part of a baby's body, with the common visible parts adopting identical postures: at the top, two babies with the most finished pencil work; between them, a barely visible sketch; below left, one above the other, two sketches of arms; a head in the center of the sheet; a bust to its right; and, below the latter, a foot.

[5] He was famous enough for powerful Italian and other European clients to compete for his services as engineer and artist: Isabella d'Este, Cesare Borgia and King Louis XII of France.

[7] A self-confessed detachment from the brush, Leonardo produced few works during this period: The Last Supper (completed in 1498) and The Madonna of the Yarnwinder (dated from 1501); however, he considered himself more of an engineer.

[12] Since then, the attribution to the Florentine painter has been unanimous among the scientific community, including Daniel Arasse,[14] Carlo Pedretti,[15] Carmen C. Bambach,[1] Martin Kemp,[16] Frank Zöllner, Johannes Nathan[2] and Vincent Delieuvin.

[1] Moreover, stylistically, the work reveals "vibrations of [...] a very free touch", offering an energetic character typical of the first sketches that a researching artist can show.

[15] Carmen C. Bambach places it "circa 1508–1510", using exactly the same argument as Vincent Delieuvin,[1] but relying on later works that use this technique with "a much more graduated tonal scale and surface quality".

[1][20] By inheritance, he bequeathed the collection to his son Gaudenzio De Pagave, who, around 1807–1808, sold it for 200 gold louis to the Italian art historian and painter Giuseppe Bossi.

[1] It remained in the custody of Carlo Porta and Nicola Cassoni at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera[1] until 1822, as part of the "Luigi Celotti Collection".

[4] As early as 1820, it was the subject of a proposal to purchase it with the rest of the collection by the Austrian government on behalf of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice.

[25]Two types of study relate directly to the painting of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne: those that enabled the creation of the draft,[17] and those that constitute "the final changes decided by the master" and are therefore the furthest removed in time from it.

[29] The series of studies on the Gallerie dell'Accademia bears witness to Leonardo da Vinci's great experience as a painter, but also as an observer of nature and an anatomist.

[1] His anatomical knowledge also enables him to accurately reproduce, on the torso in the center left, for example, the effects of a slightly adipose skin visible on the figure's right shoulder, arm and chest.

[30] Finally, the same knowledge is evident in the work around the right leg – though destined to disappear behind that of the Virgin – carried out to find the most realistic position for the balance of this body in motion.

[32] In this vein, Peter Hohenstatt explains: "Since neither children nor cats know how to pose and remain motionless, Leonardo here demonstrates his talent for observation and his ability to discern decisive moments while quickly noting them down.

These studies show how the painter progressively elaborates his work and sharpens his gift for observation to obtain more life and naturalness in his paintings".

[17] Because of its scrupulous application – a far cry from the freer stroke of its model – and the traces of deferment it contains,[29] it is now attributed to one of his pupils,[34] in the words of Carmen C. Bambach: "The unwritten rule is that the work must have been done by the master.