An Angel in Red with a Lute

An angel stands in a fluttering red robe, knee bent, playing a lute. He looks distracted from his music, staring intently at something or someone outside of the picture. The object of the angel’s fascination is a statue of the Virgin Mary which he and a companion angel, placed on her other side, are serenading with their music.Both panels were part of a large, elaborate altarpiece that included a sculpture of the Virgin Mary and a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, now known as ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’. The angels were probably designed as graceful musical accompaniments to frame the sculpture, which stood above Leonardo’s painting. Later on, in the late sixteenth century, when the chapel that the altarpiece had been specifically made for was destroyed, the altarpiece was moved and re-designed: some parts of it were sold, while others were moved around. The angels ended up on either side of Leonardo’s painting. Later still, Leonardo’s painting was removed altogether and the angels switched position again.At some point during all this moving around, the angels were extended, cut down and placed within grey arches, painted to resemble niches for sculpture. The stark simplicity and rough painting of these niches looks out of place next to to the rich reds and gold-browns used here. Compared to its pair, An Angel in Green with a Vielle, it is more restrained: the range of colours is more even and there is less use of dramatic contrasts between areas of light and shade. For this reason it appears slightly less three-dimensional and has a more decorative effect overall.Ambrogio de Predis was named in the original contract for the altarpiece which was signed in 1483. He was the court painter at Milan at the time, and Leonardo stayed with him when he first arrived in the city in the early 1480s. A surviving document from the early 1490s shows that both painters were asking for additional payment, claiming that the materials they had used had cost more than expected. This petition is useful because it reveals that the paintings must have been finished by that date and it confirms Ambrogio’s involvement in the altarpiece. What we don't know is whether he was ever paid what he asked for.