Renaissance Milan with captions

This canvas brings to life the vibrant image of Milan at the time of Leonardo and Ludovico Sforza, a city in transformation, suspended between political ambitions, artistic fervor, and grand urban projects.

The two protagonists, both born in 1452, emerge through a series of busts alongside figures who marked their lives: Salaì, the pupil whom Leonardo himself, despite loving, called a thief, a liar, stubborn, a glutton; Caterina, Leonardo's mother; and Cecilia Gallerani, the lady with the ermine and Ludovico's mistress. These faces interact with the map, which reconstructs Sforza-era Milan as a pulsating organism, crisscrossed by canals, walls and city gates, convents, and construction sites.

Among the highlighted monuments, Santa Maria delle Grazie stands out, begun in 1463 and radically transformed after the arrival of Donato Bramante in 1481. With the large Renaissance tribune, the choir, and the apsidal 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 initial studies on the ideal city, with elevated streets, distinct levels for traffic and pedestrians, and a redesigned Navigli canal system as modern infrastructure.

Concurrently, Ludovico's political life intertwined with his artistic endeavors: dynastic marriages, alliances, births, bereavements, and tensions that culminated in his ascent to the dukedom in 1494.

The following decade was an explosion of creativity. Leonardo painted The Last Supper in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, transformed the Sala delle Asse into a symbolic mulberry forest, designed the colossal Sforza Horse, and directed memorable spectacles such as the Feast of Paradise. 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 abandonment of the city.

The map concludes with the artist's return in 1506 under French rule, his final Lombard studies, his collaboration with Melzi, his favorite pupil and principal heir, and his definitive move to France in 1516. It portrays a changing Milan, guided by artistic and political visions that still define its soul today.

WARNING!

DOES NOT INCLUDE FRAME.

DOES NOT INCLUDE WOODEN STRETCHER.