When Leonardo came to Milan, it was the capital of one of Italy's richest states, at the height of its splendour and a leading player on the peninsula's political stage. Wealthy and militarily strong, Renaissance Milan was also included among the European cities comprised in a late-16th-century atlas called Civitates Orbis Terrarum. Leonardo's relationship with the city was very strong and it became one of his adoptive homelands. Its streets and palazzi, in fact, were the scenes of the major works of one who was by turns a painter, a sculptor, an architect and an engineer, Milan's network of Navigli (navigable canals) and their locks is a sufficient example. It was here, too, that he elaborated many of the ideas and projects that were to make him the many-sided genius of the Italian Renaissance.
The Sforzas were the originators of Milan's fortune and the holders of so much wealth. The founder of the family was a certain Muzio Attendolo known as Sforza (1369-1424). A native of Cotignola in the province of Ravenna, he gave up working in the fields to became a stable boy for the army, then a soldier of fortune and eventually a condottiere at the service of this seignior or that in the endless wars between the Italian states. When he died on the side of the Neapolitan Angevins in their campaign against the Aragonese, his son Francesco, the real creator of the family's power, continued the struggle for a while before coming to Milan, then in the hands of the Viscontis. Here he proved to be a match for other renowned condottieri, such as Il Carmagnola and Niccolò Piccinino, so much so that he won the hand of Bianca Maria, the only heir of Filippo Maria Visconti and the future mother of Ludovico (Il Moro). Since she was an illegitimate child, however, her succession was contested and other seigniors, such as Alfonso of Aragon, laid claims to Milan, which had now become a republic. Francesco fought for the republic, though really for himself. When he finally took the city in 1450, the Milanese received him as their duke. This was the beginning of the dominion of the Sforzas. Francesco immediately launched a series of absolutist reforms. When he died in 1466, he was succeeded by his firstborn, Galeazzo Maria, Il Moro's brother, who increased the splendour of the court, but was less competent than his father, and the economy languished. When he was stabbed to death in a conspiracy on Christmas Day 1476, Ludovico persuaded his widow Bonne de Savoie to appoint him as the guardian of their son, the young duke Gian Galeazzo, then about 9 years old. This was the start of another period of splendour. Ludovico himself became duke of Milan in his turn in 1494. Since he felt he was the true heir of his father, the great Francesco, he commissioned Leonardo to set up an equestrian statue in his honour. He remained in power until he was driven out by the French in 1499. His descendants were reinstated for short periods until 1535 when Francesco II Sforza died without heirs.
THE CASTLE AND THE COURT
It was Galeazzo Maria Sforza who transferred the court from the palazzo near the Cathedral (thereafter called the "Old Court") to the Sforzesco Castle, which was thus converted from a bastion to a splendid Renaissance court. The duke also had castles at Pavia and Vigevano. The word "court" in those days referred to several units whose focus was the duke. It could be a castle or a building associated with the government of the duchy or the duke's family. The "Old Court" was the family's original residence, whereas the "Ducal Court' indicated the part of the Castle built by Galeazzo Maria. The term was also used to describe the duke's intimate entourage of colleagues and servants who accompanied him wherever he went. The Milanese equally applied the term to every aspect, whether public or private, of the life of their duchy. Such a multiform institution naturally required a large staff, ranging from the duke's personal servitors to those engaged in the public administration, defence and cultural life in all its forms. Some officials lived in a wing of the Castle called the "Rocchetta", while one of its most reserved and isolated rooms in the duke's wing was devoted to the treasury, where the treasurer worked. Several judges and hundreds of soldiers and domestic servants were also housed in the Castle. All this involved heavy costs. The duke had to pay the salaries of all his courtiers. Salaries and wages, indeed, constituted one of the major items on the duchy's accounts. Positions with a stipend were much in demand. For several classes of society, in fact, such as bureaucrats, artists, literati and musicians, the only "steady jobs" were held by those on the payroll of a court. After 1470, the splendour of a court was the yardstick by which the prestige of its ruler was assessed. Descriptions of their courts were proudly circulated by noblemen of every degree. It was also made clear that rather than as teachers or painters, intellectuals and artists were engaged to produce works that would shed lustre on their employers.
