First Milanese period 1481/2 - 1499

The mathematician Fra Luca Pacioli in his treatise De Divina Proportione, illustrated by Leonardo, praises the painter, indicating that the Last Supper is finished and that the model for the Sforza horse measures 12 braccia (over 23 feet): “the said height from the nape of the neck to the ground”, and would have a bronze mass of 200,000 libbre (ie 67,800 kilos).

In April of this year Leonardo is recorded at work on the murals in the Saletta Negra and the Sala delle Asse in the North-east tower of the Castello Sforzesco, Milan.

Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua, asks Cecilia Gallerani to send Leonardo’s portrait so that she might compare it with Bellini’s portraits.

Fra Luca Pacioli dedicates his De Divina Proportione to Ludovico Sforza.

Girolamo Savonarola is burnt at the stake in Florence.

Vasco da Gama discovers a sea route to India.