BIANCA SFORZA 



But there was another Bianca Sforza, who, as 

 Michieli writes, was " the daughter of Signer Lodovico 

 of Milan." A German scholar, Dr. Paul Muller- 

 Walde, first suggested that this Bianca, whom the 

 Anonimo had evidently confused with her cousin, was 

 in all probability the original of Ambrogio de Predis' 

 portrait. 1 A " ritratto di Madonna Bianca," we learn 

 from Leonardo's note-books, was among the commis- 

 sions given him in the year 1491, by his patron 

 Lodovico Sforza. But we never hear that he executed 

 the order, and like many others it was probably left 

 to his pupil Ambrogio, who painted the portrait which 

 we now see in the Ambrosiana. 



All that we know of Bianco Sforza agrees with the 

 picture. She was very delicate and very lovely, full 

 of charm, sweetness, and intelligence. The only 

 daughter of the great Moro, she was married, at the 

 age of fourteen, to her father's prime favourite, 

 Galeazzo di San Severino, and died a few months 

 afterwards, to the infinite grief of the whole Milanese 

 court. Such, briefly told, is the story of this fascinat- 

 ing maiden, whose gentle face haunts us with a dim 

 foreboding of early death. 



" Et rose, elle a vecu ce que vivent les roses, 

 L'espace d'un matin." 



1 Dr. Miiller-Walde im Jahrbuch d. K. Preuss. Sammlungen, 

 xviii. no. 



171 



