CHAPTER XVI

_The Castello_ 368

_Table of the Visconti_ 392

_Table of the Sforza_ 393

_Appendix_ 395

_Index_ 397

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

_St. Roch, Fresco by Borgognone (Brera)_ _Frontispiece_

_The Duomo from Hotel Europe_ 3

_Atrium of St. Ambrogio_ 57

_Chiaravalle_ 70

_Via del Pesce_ 73

_Tower of S. Gottardo from the Cathedral_ 93

_The Snake of the Visconti_ 115

_Galeazzo Maria Sforza, by Piero Pollaiuolo _to face page_ 138 (Uffizi, Florence)_

_Bridge over Naviglio near San Marco_ 141

_Canal, Via San Marco_ 155

_Canonica of St. Ambrogio_ 157

_Lodovico il Moro, by Boltraffio (Trivulzio _to face page_ 176 Collection)_

_Scopetta of Lodovico il Moro_ 188

_Cupola of the Duomo, from the Roof_ 232

_Within the Duomo_ 237

_Putti, Guglia di Amadeo_ 249

_Giant Statues on the Duomo_ 251

_Side Aisle of Atrium, St. Ambrogio_ 262

_Capital in Atrium of St. Ambrogio_ 263

_Capital in Atrium of St. Ambrogio_ 264

_Ciborium, St. Ambrogio_ 267

_Sculpture on Pulpit in St. Ambrogio_ 273

_Chimney, Canonica of St. Ambrogio_ 277

_The Old Porta Ticinese_ 281

_Houses on the Naviglio_ 284

_Exterior of Portinari Chapel, St. Eustorgio_ 286

_Interior of St. Eustorgio_ 288

_Statue of Oldrado da Tresseno_ 298

_Palazzo dei Banchieri_ 300

_Doorway of Palazzo Borromeo_ 303

_Cortile of Palazzo Borromeo_ 305

_Last Supper, by Leonardo. Detail, Figure of _to face page_ 314 Christ_

_Last Supper, by Leonardo. Detail, St. John, St. _to face page_ 316 Peter and Judas_

_San Satiro_ 321

_Palazzo Visconti di Modrone—Garden on the 331 Naviglio_

_Putto, Fresco by Bramantino (Brera)_ _to face page_ 336

_Madonna, by Mantegna (Poldi-Pezzoli)_ _to face page_ 356

_Portrait of an Unknown, by Ambrogio de Predis, (?) _to face page_ 363 (Ambrosiana)_

_The Rocchetta, Castello_ 375

PREFACE

Everybody has been in Milan, but who knows Milan? The traveller in search of the picturesque and mediæval sees nothing to arrest him—except comfortable hotels—in a city which seems to tell only of yesterday. A glance at the Cathedral, at St. Ambrogio, at the most famous of the pictures, and he hurries on. Yet a little longer stay reveals a wealth of artistic interest in the many fine churches, in the rich galleries and museums, and much also that is worth learning even in the outward aspect of the city in the present day. The historic buildings have mostly fallen, the old crooked ways have given place to broad thoroughfares, the picturesque life of the past has been smothered by the sombre bustle of modern commercialism. But her heritage of beauty is to some extent inalienable. She remains always Italian. Colour and atmosphere lend an indestructible charm even to her modernity. The warm brick of the buildings against the limpid blue sky, the gold and grey of sunshine and shadow, the shining canals that border some of the further streets with a still and pensive melancholy, make a lovely and characteristic harmony still, as in the days of the Quattrocentist artists who painted them in the backgrounds of their Madonnas and San Roccos. And there are some old streets left, mostly in the heart of the city, such as the Via del Pesce and the Via Tre Alberghi, long cobbled alleys ribboned with triple lines of pavement, where the tall houses and bowed-out balconies of curious ironwork, rusted by age and weather, if they cannot remember the days of Milan’s earlier glory, must have known at least something of the sad centuries of bondage which followed, before they shook to the roar of the Cinque Giornate sixty years ago.

The compass of this small volume has made it impossible to tell otherwise than summarily of the great past of this city and of her artistic riches to-day. I have had to pass over, or barely mention, many noteworthy things. I am especially sorry that I could not include the places of interest in the immediate neighbourhood. A visit to the Certosa of Pavia, which sums up all the aims and achievements of Lombard Renaissance art, is necessary for an appreciation of the Milanese sculptors and painters, while the associations of the famous building with Gian Galeazzo Visconte and with the Sforza princes, make it a part of Milanese story. The old Church of Chiaravalle, with its incomparable Lombard-Gothic tower and its trecento frescoes, and picturesque Monza, where that historic emblem and wonder of twelfth century goldsmiths’ art, the Iron Crown of Lombardy, is preserved with other priceless treasures, ought not to be missed by the traveller.

The main facts of Milanese story are well known, and may be found, not only in the native chroniclers and historians, but also in many modern books dealing with Milan and with Italian history generally. Mongeri’s _L’Arte in Milano_, and the writings of Count Malaguzzi Valeri, especially his _Milano_ in the series “Italia Illustrata”, have been my chief help in the topographical and artistic part of this book, and I have also made use of the works of Signor Luca Beltrami, Mrs. Ady and others. For the painters and pictures I have depended on Morelli, the acknowledged authority on Lombard art, and have consulted besides the writings of Dr. Gustavo Frizzoni, of Mr. Herbert Cook, and other modern critics.

E. N.

SUTTON VENY, WILTS, _November 1907_

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The Story of Milan