Original or copy? Oil on wood, The Virgin and the Spindle is a small painting in which the Virgin, draped in blue, holds the infant Jesus to her breast, looking up at the cross formed by the end of a spindle. Is the painting, of which there are several versions, including one exhibited in Scotland, by Leonardo da Vinci? Dated to the early 16th century, it was lost for three hundred years, until its reappearance on the art market in the early 19th century. Since then, the work has passed through the hands of several collectors and has long been considered a high quality copy produced in the workshop run by the Renaissance master.