There are four figures animating the scene.
The Virgin Mary, kneeling in the center, seems to surpass the others in height. She gently supports St. John’s humble posture of prayer towards the Son of God, resting her hand on his shoulder.

The Archangel Gabriel, elegantly dressed, protects Jesus with his arm and indicates the Baptist’s devotional act with his right index finger.

Finally, the Christ Child sits in the foreground, portrayed in a solemn gesture of blessing addressed to his peer, unclothed like him.

The young Virgin Mary, Mother of God, is kneeling in a gesture of blessing, with her head gently inclined and her right hand resting on the shoulder of St. John.

The blue cloak that softly drapes her shoulders is embellished at the edge by a fine golden embroidery and closed by an oval jewel composed of a large cabochon (perhaps an opal) surrounded by fourteen pearls.

The infant John the Baptist, positioned on the left of the painting, kneelings with his hands joined as he turns his body and gaze to Jesus.

In the foreground on the left, Jesus, accompanied by the Archangel, is sitting on the ground before Mary, who extends a protective hand over his head.

Although slightly smaller in size, he occupies the most important position, thereby giving him prominence and distinguishing him from Saint John, with whom many have long confused him. The child raises his right hand in a gesture of blessing addressed to the Baptist.

Positioned behind the Christ Child, the kneeling angel is young and elegant, with refined and feminine features. With his right hand he touches the back of Jesus, supporting and protecting him. His tender gaze is turned to the viewer, while his right hand points to Saint John.

Everything in the composition is designed to create a serene emotional balance through a subtle exchange of gestures and gazes among the sacred figures set in a magnificent landscape.

Mary, patron and protector for her role in bringing God incarnate into the world, acts as both welcoming witness and vehicle of the ‘discourse’ articulated by her hands. The Christ Child turns his benevolent gaze, raising his hand in a gesture of blessing, towards Saint John.

The Angel behind him supports his back and points to the praying Baptist. The devotional act of Saint John is underlined by the inclination of his body and hands joined towards the son of God.

Flowers and plants invariably have a symbolic meaning in Renaissance painting, often conveying a metaphorical message. Here, they also show the detailed botanical knowledge of Leonardo’s circle: in fact, only species suitable for the humid environment of a natural cave are represented.

Leonardo selected specific plants in which contemporary viewers would have recognized different levels of subtle symbolic meanings relative to the religious themes of the composition.

In the Borghetto Virgin of the Rocks, in the lower corner by the feet of St. John, there is the elegant white iris (Iris pseudacorus) and the gorgeous blue flower of the columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris); in front of Jesus is a delicate white herbaceous flower, a lily of the valley, while leafy oak branches emerge from behind the rocks (Quercus robur).

Behind the sacred group is a rocky landscape that creates an enveloping twilight around the figures, with a hint of distant luminosity. An extraordinary illusion of depth is created through the application of Leonardo’s observations of the atmosphere in what he called ‘aerial perspective’.

For Leonardo, colors and forms lose their intensity and sharpness as the distance between them and the observer increases, due to the ever-increasing density of the air, generating a sort of veil that blurs the view. For this reason, the foreground elements are rendered in meticulous detail, while the landscape in the distance is lost in the mist. Unfortunately, Leonardo’s atmospheric nuances have lost their original subtlety in the Borghetto canvas due to the excessive cleaning of an 18th-century restoration.