First Milanese period 1481/2 - 1499

On 22nd July Piero Alamanni, Florentine Ambassador to the Sforza Court in Milan, writes to Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence stating that Ludovico Sforza intends to commemorate his father “with an enormous horse in bronze, on which rides the Duke Francesco in armour”. He has already entrusted the model of the Sforza horse to Leonardo, but that he still needs “a master or two capable of doing such work”.

Leonardo embarks on a concerted effort to study human anatomy, and produces a number of fine drawings of skulls, now in the Royal Collection, Windsor.