'The Virgin of the Rocks' was commissioned in 1483 by the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception as part of a large altarpiece for their church, San Francesco in Milan. It wasn't delivered until 1508, and even then it wasn't finished - the angel's hand resting on Christ's back is only sketched in.

The delay in this case was due to an argument over money. Leonardo was promised a set fee plus a bonus when the painting was finished. However, the bonus he was offered was so paltry that he angrily sold the work to a private client. (This is the version which is now in the Louvre in Paris.) The confraternity finally managed to patch things up with the artist, and he began work on a second version of the painting (the National Gallery's painting).

These two angels were made by associates of Leonardo, and were hung on either side of the painting.

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