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Gallery 4
Leonardo in Milan, ca. 1481/83–1499
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Read about the works in this gallery, or view images from the exhibition (see below). |
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In a letter to Ludovico Sforza "Il Moro" of about 1481–83, which the artist presumably wrote seeking employment, Leonardo advertised himself as a most ingenious military engineer. Leonardo worked for Sforza in Milan from about 1481/83 to 1499. Among his primary endeavors there was his design of a colossal bronze equestrian monument to commemorate the ruler's father, Francesco Sforza, who had died in 1466. Leonardo labored on the project from 1483 to 1499, though it was never realized. His prowess as a designer of narrative compositions is evident in his studies for the mural of the Last Supper (Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan), painted in 1493–98. Although he may have begun Saint Jerome Praying in the Wilderness (cat. no. 46) while he was still in Florence, he took it with him to Milan, where, though never finished, it influenced a number of Lombard artists. Leonardo repeatedly stated that the two most formidable challenges facing a good painter were the portrayal of man and the intentions of the mind (le passioni dell'animo) through physical gestures. From the late 1480s to the mid-1490s his preoccupation with the human face would lead to some of his most penetrating studies of physiognomy.
The Sforza court was a way station for some of the brilliant minds of the period, and the years Leonardo spent there proved especially productive for his career, for he also emerged as a theorist, scientist, inventor, and author of treatises. As Leonardo contemplated the writing of his treatises—on the human body; the elements of machines; the phenomena of light, shadow, and perspective; the movement of water; and the flight of birds—he sought a clarity of visual description that equalled the logic of his empirical observations. He is often credited with devising a consistent method of depicting buildings and their parts in plan, section, and perspectival massing. He gradually applied this system of describing three-dimensional form to a number of other endeavors, such as anatomical illustration. As poetic exercises in the invention of subject matter, Leonardo's drawings of allegories and stage designs reflect the refined literary tastes of the Sforza court. This long and relatively happy period of multifaceted activity in Leonardo's life would come to an abrupt end in autumn 1499 with the invasion of Milan by the troops of the French king Louis XII and the expulsion of Ludovico Sforza that December.
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