A sheet of four studies: above, the Virgin seated on the ground, facing left, with the Child on her knee; her left arm leans on a ledge on which is another child (presumably the infant Baptist) embracing a cat. At centre left, a child is seated on the ground, playing with a cat; another such to the right; below, the infants Christ and Baptist embracing and kissing.

The three upper studies are stiffly drawn and must be copies or derivations by an associate of Leonardo. The motifs of a child playing with a cat are closely related to several of Leonardo's sheets of c.1480 that seem to be studies for a composition of the Virgin and Child with a cat; no painting is known, though related compositions of the V&C and a lamb, by artists in the circle of Leonardo, suggest that the composition was worked up to some degree. The technique of these drawings, over red chalk outlines, is however later than Leonardo’s sketches of this motif, perhaps of the 1490s.

The lower study of the Holy Children embracing is of considerably higher quality, and it is not impossible that this is by Leonardo himself. The composition is found in several paintings by followers of Leonardo, which must depend on an invention by the artist.