This site is dedicated to a remarkable painting, an image that conveys profound human emotion with extraordinary subtlety. Sensual, powerful and intriguing in equal measure, Infants Embracing has long been the focus of connoisseurship. And decades of research and conservation have illuminated its history and revealed its artistic genius. Owned and admired for over 500 years by some of Europe’s most distinguished art collecting families, eminent names such as d’Este, Aldobrandini, Beckford, Baring and Northampton feature prominently in its provenance. Today, Infants Embracing is now in the care the BECI Foundation, which has chosen to share it with the world discreetly and without spectacle. Although the authorship of Infants Embracing has yet to be definitively established, scholarship places its creation in the closing years of the 15th century. Executed in oil and tempera on poplar panel, it belongs to a group of works derived from the designs of Leonardo da Vinci.

Any painting connected to Leonardo and his workshop - particularly one rarely seen - naturally carries an aura of wonder.

Between 10 April to 10 May 2026, scholars, specialists and art enthusiasts will have the rare opportunity to encounter this painting in the historic setting of De Waag, Haarlem’s oldest exhibition space, next to Amsterdam. The exhibition will present Infants Embracing in an intimate atmosphere evoking Leonardo’s final residence, the Château du Clos Lucé in the Loire Valley, France. The Foundation and curator warmly invite visitors to engage in an open dialogue regarding the painting’s qualities and authorship. Throughout the exhibition they will share key findings from the extensive research and technical analysis conducted over many years, offering a rich basis for informed discussion and discovery.

In doing so, they open a new chapter in the evolving story of an exceptional artwork.

This renaissance artwork also goes by the name of Holy Children Embracing and Kissing Babies.

Please  subscribe to our zoom call of tuesday the 10th of March and be part of an interesting discussion about the painting and it's place within the works of Leonardo and his Studio. Please fill in your name on the last page under contact.