Andrea del Verrocchio, The Baptism of Christ (detail), 1472–75
This angel, situated on the left side of the composition, was painted by da Vinci while he was apprenticing in Verrocchio’s workshop in Florence. Walter Pater writes: “the pupil had surpassed the master; and Verrocchio turned away as one stunned, and as if his sweet earlier work must thereafter be distasteful to him, from the bright animated angel of Leonardo’s hand” (1).
