BIANCA SFORZA 
But there was another Bianca Sforza, who, as 
Michieli writes, was “ the daughter of Signor Lodovico 
of Milan.” A German scholar, Dr. Paul Miiller- 
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 
