by Martin Kemp
At some point Leonardo enters the court of Ludovico Sforza, de facto ruler of Milan. He writes to Ludovico claiming mastery of a wide range of military engineering. Leonardo’s intellectual and practical pursuits widen and deepen, not least in the study of anatomy. A series of skull studies is dated 1489, and we have the first of his surviving series of notebooks dealing with a diverse range of artistic, technological, and scientific subjects, including the flying machine.
He paints the Portrait of a Man with a Sheet of Music, Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, probably c. 1483.
1487
Leonardo prepares designs and a wooden model for the domed crossing tower (tiburio) of Milan Cathedral. Payments are recorded in 1487 on July 30, August 8, August 18, August 27, September 28, and September 30; in January 1488; and in May 1490. He does not receive the commission.
1489
July 22
The Florentine ambassador to the Sforza court writes to Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence stating that the duke has entrusted Leonardo with the model of the equestrian memorial to Francesco Sforza, the duke’s father, but still needs “a master or two capable of doing such work.”
1490
July 22
Salaì (Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno), ten years old, arrives in Leonardo’s workshop as a trainee. On September 7, Salaì steals a silverpoint drawing stylus from one of Leonardo’s assistants, and on April 2, 1489, he steals another from a different assistant.
At approximately this time Leonardo paints the portrait of the duke’s mistress, Cecilia Gallerani (Lady with an Ermine) (Kraców, Czartoryski Collection).
1491
January 26
Leonardo designs a festival and tournament for the wedding of Ludovico Sforza and Beatrice d’Este.
c. 1491
In an undated letter, Leonardo and Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis complain to Ludovico Sforza about the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception’s low valuation for the Virgin of the Rocks and two paintings of angels.
1493
November
Leonardo’s full-scale model of the Sforza Horse is displayed under a triumphal arch inside Milan Cathedral for the marriage of Ludovico’s niece, Bianca Maria Sforza, to the Emperor Maximilian I.
December 20
Leonardo decides to cast the Sforza Horse on its side and without the tail.
1494
November 17
Ludovico Sforza sends the bronze for the Sforza Horse to his father-in-law, Ercole I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, to make cannons to combat French invaders.
1495
Leonardo may have gone to Florence, as a consultant for the building of a large council hall, the Sala del Gran Consiglio, for the new Florentine Republic.
Giovanni Donato da Montorfano signs and dates the Crucifixion fresco on the south wall of the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie (opposite Leonardo’s Last Supper). The Portraits of Ludovico Sforza, Beatrice d’Este, and Their Two Sons are later inserted in the foreground, probably by Leonardo’s studio, but are now badly deteriorated.
1496
June 8 and 14
He works on decorating rooms in the Sforza Castle, but it is suggested by the Duke that Perugino might be approached instead.
Around this time Leonardo creates the Portrait of Bianca Sforza (“La Bella Principessa”) in ink and colored chalks on vellum (private collection). Bianca, the illegitimate daughter of Ludovico, marries Galeazzo Sanseverino, but she dies within a few months of the wedding.
1497
June 29
The duke expresses his hope that Leonardo will soon finish The Last Supper.
1498
February 8
Fra Luca Pacioli completes the manuscript of De divina proportione, with illustrations of the regular geometrical solids by Leonardo. Pacioli estimates that the Sforza Horse (without its rider) is to be over 23 feet (7 meters) high.
March 22
A letter addressed to the duke states that Leonardo’s work in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie should be brought to completion.
April 20, 21, and 23
Leonardo is at work on the murals in the Saletta Negra (Little Back Room) and the Sala delle Asse (Room of the Boards, painted with a bower of trees with entwined branches and heraldic motifs in the northwest tower of the Sforza Castle).
April 26 and 29
Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua, asks Cecilia Gallerani to send Leonardo’s portrait so that she might compare it with ones by Bellini.
The portrait now known as “La Belle Ferronière,” identifiable as Lucrezia Crivelli, the duke’s mistress, was painted around this time.
1499
April 26
Ludovico Sforza gives Leonardo a vineyard on the outskirts of Milan.
September 9–10
The French troops of Louis XII storm the city, led by the Milanese mercenary general Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, for whom Leonardo was later to plan an equestrian monument.
October
Louis XII enters Milan.
Leonardo sends money to his account at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence.
He leaves Milan.
Second Florentine Period (1500–1506/7)
1500
February
Leonardo stays in Mantua as the guest of Marchioness Isabella d’Este.
March 13
Isabella d’Este receives a letter from Venice stating that Leonardo had with him his portrait drawing of Isabella.
Leonardo works for the Venetian Republic on defenses against the Turks in the Friuli region.
He witnesses a competition for mills then run by perpetual motion.
April 24
He arrives in Florence, and probably resides in the monastery of Santissima Annunziata, where he draws and exhibits a cartoon of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne.
1501
March 28
Isabella d’Este asks Fra Pietro da Novellara (head of the Carmelites in Florence) about Leonardo’s activities. On April 3, Fra Pietro replies that Leonardo is at work on a cartoon for a Virgin, Child, St. Anne, and a Lamb.
April 14
Fra Pietro tells Isabella that Leonardo is working on the Madonna of the Yarnwinder for Florimond Robertet, secretary to King Louis XII. The Madonna is known in two largely autograph versions in private collections.
Fra Pietro also reports that Leonardo is much involved with mathematics.
1502
May–August 18
Cesare Borgia, commander of the papal army, names Leonardo as architect and engineer in the Marche and Romagna. From July to September, Leonardo travels to the cities of Urbino, Cesena, Cesenatico, Pesaro, and Rimini for Cesare.
1503
February
He returns to Florence.
March 9 and June 23
The notary for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in Milan summarizes the legal situation in the dispute over the Virgin of the Rocks.
July 24
Leonardo and others demonstrate competing schemes for the canalization of the Arno. During July, he is paid by the Signoria of Florence for his work on the project to divert the Arno near Pisa.
He is reinscribed in the account book of the painters’ confraternity, the Compagnia di San Luca.
October
Florentine clerk Agostino Vespucci records that Leonardo has begun the portrait of Francesco del Giocondo’s wife, Mona Lisa, and a St. Anne, and has been commissioned to paint [the Battle of Anghiari] in the Sala del Gran Consiglio.
October 24
Leonardo receives keys to the large Sala del Papa and other rooms in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, which will serve as his workshop and residence while working on his cartoon for the Battle of Anghiari.
1504
January 25
He attends a meeting to determine the placement of Michelangelo’s David.
February–October
Leonardo receives a salary for work on the Cartoon for the B
attle of Anghiari. On February 28, he receives payments for his ingenious scaffolding from which he could draft the huge cartoon, and for a very large quantity of paper.
May 4
The Signoria of the Florentine republic, led by Niccolò Machiavelli, produce an interim agreement that summarizes the state of Leonardo’s work on the Battle of Anghiari and what he is to do.
June 30, August 30, and December 30
Further payments are recorded for Leonardo’s work on the Battle of Anghiari.
Detail of Virgin of the Rocks, c. 1495–1508.
Allowed to interrupt his work, he goes to Piombino as a military engineer at the request of Jacopo IV Appiani, Lord of Piombino and an ally of Florence.
July 9, evening
Leonardo records that his father, Ser Piero di Antonio da Vinci, has died in Florence.
August
Leonardo’s uncle, Francesco, bequeaths him property, which occasions a long-running legal dispute with Leonardo’s half-brothers.
November 30
Leonardo records that he believes that he has solved the problem of squaring of the circle. This proves not to be the case.
1505
February 28, March 14, and 30 April
He is involved in the actual painting of the Battle of Anghiari in the council hall.
Expenses for Leonardo’s scaffolding and painting are reimbursed, with the names of his assistants recorded on the list of expenses: Raffaello d’Antonio di Biagio; Ferrando Spagnolo; and Tommaso di Giovanni Masini, who “grinds colors” for Ferrando.
June 6
Leonardo records that when he started on that particular day to paint in the hall, the weather became extremely severe. During the torrential storm, the cartoon is torn.
August 31 and October 31
More payments are made for his work on the painting of the Battle of Anghiari.
At some point in 1505 or 1506, Leonardo ceases painting the Battle of Anghiari.
Around this time or somewhat earlier he begins the Salvator Mundi (Louvre Abu Dhabi).
During this period he also begins to paint Leda and the Swan, probably not finished until after 1513 (now lost).
Second Milanese Period (1506/7–1513)
1506
February 13
Leonardo designates Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis to represent him in the dispute with the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in Milan, and arbitrators are appointed. On April 27, de Predis comes to an agreement with the confraternity regarding the Virgin of the Rocks, which is still unfinished.
An agreement between Leonardo and the Signoria of Florence indicates that Leonardo can visit Milan for three months.
August 18
Charles II d’Amboise, French governor of Milan, writes to the Signoria in Florence requesting Leonardo’s services. On August 19 and 28, the French arrange for the Signoria to permit Leonardo to go Milan.
Early September
He sets out for Milan, where Charles d’Amboise commissions him to design a suburban villa and garden.
October 9
Piero Soderini, Gonfaloniere of Florence, accuses Leonardo of breaking his promises to paint the Battle of Anghiari.
December 16
In a letter to the Signoria, Charles expresses his satisfaction with Leonardo’s work.
1507
January 12, 14, and 22
In letters involving the Florentine Ambassador to France, the Signoria of Florence, and the French court, it is agreed that Leonardo should stay in Milan to serve the French.
March
Leonardo returns with Salaì to Florence.
July 23
He seems to be back in Milan.
July 26
Florimond Robertet requests on behalf of the king that “our dear and well-loved Leonardo da Vinci painter and engineer of our trust” should serve the king in Milan.
August 3
An arbitrator is appointed in a dispute between Leonardo and Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis about the Virgin of the Rocks.
Leonardo produces stage designs for Orpheus, a play by Angelo Poliziano, with a set that has a “mountain which opens.”
August 15
Charles d’Amboise demands that the Signoria permit Leonardo to return to Milan “because he is obliged to make a painting” for the king.
August 26
The arbitration decisions regarding the Virgin of the Rocks are summarized.
Around this time, Leonardo meets the young nobleman Francesco Melzi, who is to become his devoted pupil, companion, and major heir.
Leonardo returns to Florence at some point in the winter of 1507–8, where, in the winter at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, he dissects an old man who claimed to be one hundred years old (the “centenarian”).
Among other scientific work, he undertakes studies of the complex optics of the eye.
1508
March 22
Leonardo stays at the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli in Florence and contributes to Giovan Francesco Rustici’s three bronze figures of the Preaching of St. John the Baptist for the Florence Baptistery.
April 23
Leonardo is known to have returned to Milan to serve Louis XII.
Probably around this time, he resumes work on the project for a Virgin, Child, and St. Anne. The Louvre version was probably not finished until much later.
1509
July–April
He records his salary from the French king.
August 18
De Predis and Leonardo receive permission to remove the second version of the Virgin of the Rocks, newly installed in the San Francesco Grande, so that de Predis can copy it under Leonardo’s supervision. The version of the painting that finally occupies its place in the confraternity’s altarpiece is the one in the National Gallery, London.
October 12
Leonardo authorizes the final settlement for the Virgin of the Rocks, and on October 23, de Predis receives a final payment for his copy.
1510
Leonardo continues to work on technological and scientific projects, including anatomy, geology, and geometry. He records that he intends “in this winter” to bring his anatomical work to a conclusion. He has been collaborating with the anatomist Marcantonio della Torre.
He is granted an annual salary by the French state.
1511
December 10 and 18
He records that invading Swiss soldiers have started fires near the city of Milan, breaking the French domination of the city.
Leonardo and his household reside for a time at the Melzi family villa in Vaprio d’Adda outside Milan, where he plans a canal to bypass a rocky section of the river at Tre Corni.
Roman Period (1513–16)
1513
September 24
He records that “I departed from Milan to go to Rome” accompanied by Melzi, Salaì, and two other members of his household, probably passing through Florence on the way.
In this year he undertakes some of his major studies of the heart, its valves, and motions of the blood.
December 1
He is in Rome in the service of Giuliano de’ Medici (brother of Pope Leo X), with a workshop in the Belvedere Courtyard of the Vatican Palace.
1514
Residing in Rome, Leonardo also travels in the service of Giuliano in connection with military and civil engineering, including the draining of the Pontine Marshes near Rome. He works on burning mirrors for Giuliano, which occasions a dispute with a German mirror-maker.
1515
January 9
He notes that Giuliano de’ Medici departed at dawn from Rome in order to marry in Savoy.
July 12
For the entry of King Francis I into Lyons on his return from Italy, a mechanical lion by Leonardo is presented as a gift from Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici.
November 30
Pope Leo X makes a triumphal entry into Florence; Leonardo and Giuliano de’ Medici are among the papal entourage
.
Leonardo plans a new palace for Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, opposite Michelozzo’s Palazzo Medici.
December 7–17
He may have traveled to Bologna, where the Pope is to meet the French king.
1516
He records the solution to a mathematical problem.
March 17
Giuliano de’ Medici dies, and Leonardo writes that “the Medici made me, and destroyed me.”
French Period (1516–19)
1516
Leonardo goes to France as peintre du Roy for King Francis I. He is accompanied by Melzi and Salaì.
1517
Ascension Day in May
He records that he is in Amboise, living at the Château de Cloux (Clos Lucé), the manor house of the royal residence.
October 1
A letter describes a celebration for King Francis I in Argentan, at which Leonardo’s mechanical lion walked forward to open its breast, “and in the inside it was all blue, which signified love.”
October 10
As an ornament of the court, Leonardo receives a visit from the touring party of Cardinal Luigi d’Aragona. One of the secretaries, Antonio de Beatis, records the event in his diary. They were shown three paintings, a portrait of “a certain Florentine woman done from life at the request of the said magnificent Giuliano de’ Medici”; a young St. John the Baptist; and a Virgin, Child, and St. Anne. They were also shown manuscripts, most notably those that dealt with anatomy. Because of a paralysis on Leonardo’s right side, “he can no longer paint with the sweetness of style that he used to have, and he can only make drawings and teach others.”
December 29
De Beatis visits Leonardo’s Last Supper in Milan, noting that “although most excellent, it is beginning to deteriorate.”
Leonardo spends time in Romorantin for the project to build a great palace complex for Francis I, which would involve substantial hydraulic engineering.
For the years 1517–18, he is in receipt of a very substantial stipend from the king for two years, with Melzi and Salaì also receiving good salaries.
1518
June 19
In celebration of the marriage of Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici to Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne, niece of King Francis I, a revised staging of the Feast of Paradise is held at Cloux with a representation of the heavens designed by Leonardo.
June 24
He writes that he has left Romorantin to go to the manor house of Cloux at Amboise.
