Leonardo da Vinci's Tunnels
Section of Ludovico Sforza's Castle, Milan 2003 Mark Playle
1494. Leonardo started working for Ludovico Sforza*, the duke of Milan.
1495. Ludovico commissioned Leonardo to paint The Last Supper in Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Sforza Family Mausoleum.
1495. Leonardo drew a study of St. James for The Last Supper in his Notebook next to a sketch of a tunnel.
Codex Forster I
A recent survey under Sforza's Castle, using ground-penetrating radar revealed a previously unknown barrel vault tunnel, part of an intricate underground system.
Researchers think it may be the tunnel Leonardo sketched: 'there is a clear connection between the elements depicted in his drawings and the actual structure'.
Some tunnels were probably used for defence and as quick escape routes but others have been found. Records show that Ludovico ordered the construction of an underground passage to allow him private access to the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where his adored wife was buried in 1497. One tunnel looks as if (work still in progress) it leads to the Basilica. If so, it also leads, of course, to The Last Supper.
Mark photographed Ludovico Sforza's Castle when he was working in Milan.
Many, many years later he found himself in Château Clos Lucé, Amboise, photographing a tunnel which, in the light of recent findings, may very well have been designed by Leonardo. Many believe that it leads from Clos Lucé, Leonardo's home, to the Royal Château where Francis I lived. It provided privacy for a King who had none and for Leonardo, who was in his sixties, a much easier way for their frequent meetings than trekking up the hill (now rue Léonard Perrault) to The Lion's Gate.
* The duke who gave the world The Last Supper died in abject misery in a dungeon in Chateau Loches in the Loire Valley.
Post by Pamela (BA History of Art). Photography by Mark Playle.
Leonardo da Vinci
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