arno valley landscape, il paesaggio con fiume

Whilst unclear if the subject was real or invented—numerous attempts have been made to determine its location—or if it was a preparatory element of another work, Leonardo da Vinci’s sketch, signed and dated 5 August 1473 (“Dì de Sta Maria della Neve,” the Feast of Mary of the Snows or rather the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major of Rome)—an extreme rarity for any work of that age, is considered by many art historians to be the first example of a pure landscape depiction in the Western canon, marking the beginning of this genre of painting as an independent subject.