Leonardo was 30 when he left Florence for Milan in 1482. The reasons for his sudden departure without finishing his "Adoration of the Three Wise Men" altarpiece are not clear. Vasari and other contemporary biographers speak of a diplomatic mission and the bearing of a priceless gift on behalf of Lorenzo de' Medici to Ludovico Sforza of Milan. The search for work, however, seems a more likely explanation of Leonardo's decision. At that time, Ludovico, known as Il Moro (The Moor) on account of his dark complexion, was his nephew's guardian and the effective governor of Milan before he became its duke in his turn in 1494. Leonardo introduced himself and set out the many ways in which he could be of service, as a military expert, for example. In those days, in fact, it seemed natural to suppose that a man who could cast a bronze statue could equally cast a cannon. During the 17 years of his first sojourn in Milan, Leonardo was busy in widely differing fields: projects for "war machines", the ancestors of today's tanks ("covered carts, safe and unattackable"), firearms resembling machine guns, hydraulic engineering works, town planning schemes, architecture. The duke also called upon him to think up and stage the festivals and similar events with theatrical machines and other contrivances devices that then animated banquets and weddings, and enabled a ruler to show off his wealth and refinement. Many of his drawings have been preserved, especially those of the costumes worn on the occasion of the marriage of Gian Galeazzo Sforza and Isabella d'Aragona in 1489.
Preparation of these entertainments advanced in step with Leonardo's increasing association with Il Moro. It was in the spring of 1489, in fact, that his status received full recognition in the document whereby he was commissioned to erect an equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, Ludovico's father. This was intended to be a mighty creation right from the start, three times lifesize and without compare in Europe. Leonardo made a clay model of the horse. This, however, was never used to make the bronze casting and was eventually destroyed. In those troubled times, in fact, the enormous quantity of bronze required was probably better employed in the fabrication of cannons.
THE COMMISSION FOR THE "LAST SUPPER"
The descent of Charles VIII of France with the support of Il Moro (1494) terrorised the southern half of Italy. It was at this moment that the duke, in answer to Leonardo's letters stating that major commissions were few and far between, and complaining of his parlous state, entrusted him with the mightiest commission of all: decoration of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie. This was a convent Ludovico had chosen for conversion of its church into a monument to the glory of his family, an enterprise for which Leonardo's talents were essential. The artist's modus operandi, however, involved intensive dedication to theory, but with little to show for it, and discontinuously, in practice. In 1497, the friars ran out of patience and called upon Ludovico to urge Leonardo to finish the work within the times agreed. Matteo Bandello, a Dominican friar at the convent, has left an account of the artist's workday in one of his novellas. Leonardo, he tells us, was wont to remain in his atelier until around midday, after which he would drop by the "Grazie", take a look at the painting, add a brush stroke or two, and then set off in answer to one of the infinite calls that stemmed from his curiosity as a scientist, and are recorded in his manuscripts. One day he was visited in the church by the French Cardinal Raymond Péraud and thus had the chance to speak about his work. This was always to his liking. As Bandello puts it: "he held it very dear that each person, on seeing his paintings, might freely express his opinion of the same". The two of them began to discuss art and particularly the comparison between perfect "modern" paintings like Leonardo's and those of the great classic artists. At a certain point, however, Leonardo changed the subject and told the cardinal he was a very well paid artist since the duke provided him with a salary of a full 2000 ducats. A confidence that might seem to border on extravagance in such a context, yet one that reveals the inner satisfaction of a man whose success has been won by his tenacity and his capabilities.
