In 1499, after the defeat of Ludovico Sforza by the French, Leonardo left Milan.
After briefly visiting Mantua, he moved on to Venice where he served as a military engineer.
In 1500, he returned to the city of his childhood, Florence.
There, he worked on a commission for the Servite monastery, which was probably Virgin and Child with St. Anne (c.1502-1516). In 1502, he was employed
by General Cesare Borgia as an architect and military engineer, with whom he traveled, mainly through Central Italy, studying terrain and preparing maps for Borgia's future military campaigns.
It was also around that time that the Madonna of the Yarnwinder (1501) was created.
