Two versions of it exist because its creator decided to keep the original and send a copy to the fraternity at San Francesco Grande in Milan.  
Two versions of it exist because its creator decided to keep the original and send a copy to the fraternity at San Francesco Grande in Milan.  It was designed to be the center of an altarpiece that was originally commissioned by the De Predis brothers.  A natural window opening up to the misty sea can be seen in the left background, while exquisite plants and flowers dot the foreground and contrast with the bleakness of the setting.  Perhaps the most impressive detail is the title figure's foreshortened hand which hovers above one of the other three figures.  Departing noticeably from contemporary depictions of the "Immaculate Conception" it features a sitting angel and a young John the Baptist kneeling in homage to his cousin.  Drawn primarily from sketches of geological formations in the painter's notebooks, FTP, identify this work by Leonardo Da Vinci that shows the Christ child and his mother in a stony grotto.
Two versions of it exist because its creator decided to keep the original and send a copy to the fraternity at San Francesco Grande in Milan.  
The Virgin of the Rocks