sheet which was turned over and reused for a different drawing by another sixteenth-century artist; this is now in the Städel in Frankfurt. 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. One, a study for the Christ child's head, is in the Fondation Custodia in Paris; the other, in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, is a drapery study for the Virgin's garments. These have been attributed to Boltraffio on the basis of the Berlin drawing's similarity to other drapery studies by the artist. It has been argued that the Paris and Berlin drawings are preparatory studies for the Madonna Litta rather than copies after it, as the drapery study shows more of the Virgin's right arm than the finished work, in which this is obscured by Christ's head. This suggests that the composition was partly pieced together from these studies. 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. It has been argued that this study might represent an earlier idea by a pupil for the composition of the Madonna Litta, which the master Leonardo then 'corrected' with the drawing in the Louvre. The painting was repainted by an artist other than Leonardo in Milan around 1495. Provenance It has been speculated that Leonardo might have taken the Madonna Litta with him to Venice in March 1500, as the diarist Marcantonio Michiel apparently recorded its presence in the Ca' Contarini in that city in 1543: The earliest print of the composition is Venetian, by an artist in the circle of Zoan Andrea, and at least one painted copy by the Venetian school is known, in the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona. In 1784, the earliest secure date in its provenance, the painting was bought by Prince from one Giuseppe Ro. After Belgioioso's death in 1813 it passed into the collection of the Litta family, from whom it takes its current name. In 1865 the Russian Tsar Alexander II acquired the panel from Count Antonio Litta, quondam minister to Saint Petersburg, for the Hermitage Museum, where it has been exhibited to this day. Upon acquiring the painting the Hermitage had it transferred from wood to canvas, when it was again repainted.