Date

Circa 1910

Under Ludovico Sforza and his wife, Beatrice d'Este, the city flourished. Ludovico surrounded himself with the finest artists, in emulation of Lorenzo de' Medici: he brought Leonardo da Vinci to Milan, and Bramante designed S Maria presso S Satiro (from 1478), S Maria delle Grazie (from 1492) and parts of the S Ambrogio monastic complex. The prestigious project for a new eastern end (tribuna) to the church of S Maria delle Grazie, Milan, was commissioned by the Duke as a mausoleum; work began on 29 March 1492. The basic design, attached to Guiniforte Solari's Late Gothic nave (1463), seems to have been Bramante's, although this has not been proved conclusively. The refectory of the convent houses Leonardo's Last Supper.