a commission by Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan, and a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, the teenage daughter of a Milanese civil servant whom “Il Moro” had recently settled in a suite of ...

He turned it into the Sforza Castle, complete with towers, courtyards, and frescoed-lined halls. In 1494, Francesco’s successor, Ludovico Sforza, built on the castle’s tradition and hired ...

Leonardo da Vinci knew the right strings to pull. Keen to work for the Milanese nobleman Ludovico Sforza, he offered his services not only as engineer and architect, but also as a sculptor: ‘I would ...