Renaissance Milan

This canvas brings to life the image of Milan in the age of Leonardo and Ludovico il Moro—a city in transformation, suspended between political ambition, artistic fervor, and major urban projects.

The two protagonists, both born in 1452, emerge through a series of busts alongside figures who shaped their lives: Salaì, the pupil whom Leonardo, despite his affection, described as a thief, a liar, stubborn, and gluttonous; Caterina, Leonardo’s mother; and Cecilia Gallerani, the Lady with an Ermine and mistress of Ludovico. These faces interact with the map, which reconstructs Sforza‑era Milan as a living organism crossed by canals, walls and city gates, convents, and construction sites.

Among the highlighted monuments stands Santa Maria delle Grazie, begun in 1463 and radically transformed after Donato Bramante’s arrival in 1481. With its great Renaissance tribune, choir, and apse complex, Bramante introduced a new architectural language of harmonious proportions and pure geometries, marking the decline of Lombard Gothic.

In 1482 Leonardo arrived in Milan, bringing with him a multifaceted talent that soon captivated Ludovico. His first Milanese works include the Virgin of the Rocks, the Portrait of a Musician, and his early studies on the ideal city, with elevated streets, separate levels for traffic and pedestrians, and a redesigned Navigli system conceived as a modern infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Ludovico’s political life intertwined with his artistic patronage: dynastic marriages, alliances, births, losses, and tensions that culminated in his rise to the duchy in 1494.

The following decade was an explosion of creativity. Leonardo painted The Last Supper in the refectory of the Grazie, transformed the Sala delle Asse into a symbolic mulberry grove, designed the colossal Sforza Horse, and directed memorable spectacles such as the Festa del Paradiso. But it was also a fragile period: the death of Beatrice d’Este, the French invasion of 1499, Ludovico’s flight, and Leonardo’s temporary departure from the city.

The map concludes with the artist’s return in 1506 under French rule, his final Lombard studies, his collaboration with Melzi—his favored pupil and principal heir—and his definitive move to France in 1516. It is the portrait of a Milan undergoing profound change, shaped by artistic and political visions that still define its soul today.

ATTENTION!

DOES NOT INCLUDE FRAME.

DOES NOT INCLUDE WOODEN FRAME.