With the permanent exhibition of the three most important works painted by Leonardo in Florence before his departure for Milan in 1482, and with the exceptional loan of the Saint Jerome (conceived around the time of his move), this hall is appropriately the first section of the exhibition. It is, moreover, entirely fitting that the young Leonardo’s masterpieces should be accompanied by altarpieces painted by artists who worked with him in the versatile shop of Andrea del Verrocchio. The presence of works by Perugino and Lorenzo di Credi, but also by Luca Signorelli (and even Piero di Cosimo) serves to recreate an atmosphere and a group of artists whose production shows how fruitful was Verrocchio’s workshop, the place where Leonardo’s genius first budded and his mind was moulded.

Verrocchio has left his mark in the Baptism of Christ (commissioned of him around 1470), where he is, it seems, responsible for the general organization of the scene and for the figure of St. John, at least. But this panel clearly shows the participation of assistants of differing capacity, outstanding among them Leonardo, who worked on it around the middle of the 1470s and whose contribution is not limited to the famous angel viewed in profile.

Before this (around 1472) Leonardo had painted the Annunciation, a work in which the twenty-year-old artist displayed all of his talent, devising optical illusions to ensure a correct reading of the painting from a determined view-point.

Then, in 1481, he was commissioned to paint the Adoration of the Magi. The fluent variety of expressions, the bold articulation of the stories unfolding in the background, the inspiration drawn from Hellenistic models, the pathos of the ecstatic faces and the twisted postures of the writhing bodies make of this panel – which, like the Saint Jerome, remained unfinished due to the artist’s departure for Milan – a figurative text that anticipates the advent of the "modern manner", while simultaneously revealing the fervent innovation of Leonardo’s mind.