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1482-1499
At the court of Ludovico il Moro
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Milan, the Sforza capital
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Under the rule of a genuine Renaissance prince,
Ludovico Sforza, from 1480 to 1499, the political and
economic achievements of the duchy of Milan were matched
by its artistic and cultural accomplishments. Ludovico's
assiduous diplomacy earned him the support of Alexander
VI and the Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, and led to
family links with the houses of Aragon and Este.
Establishing a political balance with Florence, Venice,
and papal Rome, Ludovico, on the death of Lorenzo the
Magnificent, was the most influential statesman in
Italy. In the late 15th century Milan invested vast
amounts of capital into land reclamation and
canal-building, and expanded the cultivation of
mulberries, flax, and rice, which were exported abroad
together with arms, glass, textiles, and agricultural
products. On the cultural front, Ludovico, an
enterprising patron, received at his court humanists
such as Filelfo, Calcondila, and Facio, and promoted the
new art of printing with Panfilo Castaldi of Feltre and
Antonio Zaroto of Parma.
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Giovanni Antonio Amadeo and Benedetto Briosco,
Certosa di Pavia, Pavia.
The charterhouse, a Carthusian monastery, housed the
Visconti library.
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Sforza armorial bearings, Teodolinda Chapel, Cathedral,
Monza.
The house's heraldic device of the snake alternates with the
Sforza coat-of-arms.
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Leonardo da Vinci, Emblem of the Sforza,
Manuscript H, Paris notebook, Institut de
France, Paris.
In the codex compiled between 1493 and 1494,
which contains studies of river water,
mechanical and hydraulic apparatus, notes on
grammar, studies of animals, and allegories, a
corner is reserved for a homage to the ducal
heraldry. Renaissance courts, including that of
the Sforza, showed a keen interest in the
universe of symbols, allegories, and mottoes.
The mural paintings of the Last Supper
and the Sola delle Asse testify to the
fact that Leonardo shared this view.
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Master of the Sforza Altarpiece,
Sforza Altarpiece, c.1494, Brera, Milan.
The altarpiece, a kind of political manifesto of
Sforza rule, and originally in the church of
Sant'Ambrogio at Nemus, shows Ludovico ,and his
wife Beatrice d'Este kneeling at the feet of the
Madonna and Child and the four Doctors of the
Church. The exaggerated Leonardesque style
testifies to the classical tastes of court
culture. The awkwardness of the figures and the
over-elaborate ornamentation create, overall, an
excessive effect.
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Contributions from central Italy
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The classical inclination of Lombard art was particularly
pronounced during the second half of the 15th century. The
central event was the arrival of the Urbino-born Donato
Bramante, already a pre-eminent figure of the local
Renaissance. Together with the Sienese Francesco di Giorgio
Martini, also well-versed in the teaching of Brunelleschi
and Alberti, he introduced the modern principles of illusory
perspective both in painting - the Men at Arms in the
Casa Panigarola - and in architecture - the choir of San
Satiro and the majestic tribune of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
But even before this, a number of architect-sculptors from
central Italy were making their mark on the development of
the visual arts. On the recommendation of Piero de' Medici,
Antonio Averulino, known as Filarete, came to Milan in 1451
to work on the Sforza Castle, together with his
contemporaries Benedetto Ferrini and Jacopo da Cortona.
Later the work of Michelozzi Michelozzo enriched local
culture with motifs based on Ghiberti and Donatello, in an
invigorating revival of subjects from antiquity.
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Michelozzo, Portal of the Media Bank, 1462-68,
Sforza Castle, Milan.
This portal, carved with motifs based on the typology of
antique triumphal arches, is the only fragment to survive of
the ancient building.
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Donato Bramante, Apse of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.
At the court of il Moro, Bramante, architect, painter, engineer, poet
and amateur musician,
was involved in the plans for the cathedral's lantern, the cloister of
Sant'Ambrogio,
Pavia Cathedral, and Vigevano Castle. |
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Filarete, Sforzinda Project, 1460-64,
Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence.
The blueprint for Sforzinda, the ideal Renaissance city, in
the pattern of a star with a radiocentric plan, was
contained in the 25 books of Filarete's Treatise on
Architecture, the first theoretical treatise in the
vernacular, written between 1461 and 1464. A spokesman for
Tuscan Renaissance culture, Filarete nevertheless revived
the late Gothic Lombard tradition.
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Filarete, Sforzinda Proect.
Filarete was the planner of a palace for the Sforza on the
Grand Canal in Venice. In Milan he was active in the
cathedral workshop, collaborated on the Sforza Castle, and
designed the Ospidale Miaggiore. The Sforza commissioned the
him to devise a planfor a modern and grandiose capital city.
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