this one, the first, is in the louvre in paris.the painting is based on an apocryphal legend of the middle ages showing the holy family returning from their flight into egypt and meeting with the infant john the baptist. the figure of saint john is seen kneeling in prayer as he looks towards the infant jesus, who is sitting beside an angel. the angel gazes out towards one as one looks at the picture, his finger pointing to saint john to guide us to the prophetic figure who can explain the mission of the christ child. ten years later, leonardo returned to this theme because the original painting, an altarpiece, had been taken away from its owners, the brotherhood of the immaculate conception. and this later version is now at the national gallery in london, but there are only slight differences between the two. the conception is the same-- the triangular composition unaltered, the essential beauty of the creation intact. and it is fascinating to compare the two versions. "to bathe a thing in light," leonardo wrote, "is to merge it wi