ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
weeks before, his son Leone had died suddenly, and 
had been buried in S. Maria delle Grazie, the Church 
of the Dominican friars, in whose refectory Leonardo 
was in the act of painting his great Cenacolo. 
Now Lodovico wrote to the Archbishop and 
Castellan of Milan, desiring that his daughter should 
be laid to rest in the same place. 
“Since it has pleased God to take our Bianca to 
Himself, to our inexpressible sorrow, I wish her to be 
buried in the choir of S. Maria delle Grazie. After 
sunset this evening, let her be borne through the 
gardens of the Castello to the Church, and see that the 
gates of the Castello are closed and guarded, so that 
no one should know what is going on. In all other 
particulars, let the same order be observed as in the 
funeral of our son Leone. Only, as I do not wish 
Bianca to be buried in a place where I can see her 
grave, you will take care that she is laid exactly behind 
the high altar of Le Grazie, in such a manner that her 
tomb shall not be seen from the rest of the church.” 1 
These orders were faithfully carried out, the only 
exception being that the Councillors and Magistrates 
who had been already invited to attend the funeral 
carried the bier by turns, from the Chapel of the 
Castello to the gates of the Dominican Church. Here 
Bianca Sforza was laid to rest before the high altar of 
the Capella Grande, under Bramante’s fair cupola. 
1 Arch, di Stato, Potenze Sovrane, 1496. 
I90 
