Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ludovico & Leonardo
Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508) was as handsome, vigorous and cunning as a Renaissance
prince could hope to be. Known to all as Il Moro (the Moor) thanks to his dark complexion,
he became de facto ruler of Milan in 1481 after usurping his feckless nephew Gian-
galeazzo. Under his cultured and crafty rule, Ludovico turned the duchy into the 'most
flourishing realm in Italy' according to the envious Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.
He married the brilliant Beatrice d'Este (1475-97), who is widely credited with luring
high calibre Renaissance painters, musicians and architects to the court. Law and medicine
flourished at the universities of Milan and Pavia. New buildings were commissioned from
Bramante, and Ludovico laid the first stone of the beautiful church of Santa Maria dei Mir-
acoli with his own hands. But Ludovico could not rest easy. Giangaleazzo's father-in-law
was Alfonso II, the king of Naples, whose daughter Isabella deplored Ludovico's scheming
and did not fail to report her sufferings to her father. Ludovico was told to beware of assas-
sins.
Among the brilliant courtiers in Ludovico's court was Leonardo da Vinci who was the
same age as the duke. By the accounts of early biographers he, too, was strikingly hand-
some. He had long hair, long eyelashes and a very long beard. One itemised list of clothing
notes a rose-coloured Catalan gown, dusty-rose hose, a purple cape with a velvet hood and
another of crimson satin. He had brawn and vigour, too. During his absences from court, he
climbed the barren peaks north of Lake Como seeking fossils and developing a taste for
Valtellina wines. An epitome of masculinity he bore the title
pictor et ingeniarius ducalis
:
the duke's painter and engineer.
He had come to Milan, aged 30, in the hopes of inventing and constructing fearsome war
machines such as chariots, cannons and catapults. His hopes were no doubt bolstered by the
fact that Milan was at war with Venice, with Ludovico spending almost 75% of his reven-
ues on warfare. But although visions of war filled his head, he was set to work on more
modest tasks such as designing costumes for weddings and banquets, decorating the halls
of the castle, fashioning elaborate stage sets for pageants, and painting portraits of Il
Moro's mistresses, Cecilia Gallerani and Lucrezia Crivelli.
But if Il Moro underused Leonardo, he at least offered the temperamental artist creative
latitude and financial security. For the better part of two decades Leonardo was allowed to
pursue his intellectual explorations through aeronautics, anatomy, architecture, mathemat-
ics and mechanics (the wonders of which are on display in Milan's Biblioteca Ambrosiana
(
Click here
)
and Science Museum (
Click here
)) and finally furnished the world with
The
