Leonardo da Vinci's influence
A number of scholars attributes to Leonardo da Vinci the decoration of some of the rooms in the castle and the arches of the piazza's particoes.
Leonardo
(1452-1519) was an Italian artist, scientist and writer. He was
one of the greatest painters of the Renaissance but also an
engineer, mathematician, musician, naturalist and philosopher, as
well as an architect and a sculptor.
He produced a lot of mechanical and scientific sketches in special notebooks. His sketches included a car, a submarine, a helicopter and a clock.
His work had great influence both on his contemporaries and on succeeding generations of artists. His most famous painting is "Mona Lisa".
His signature appears on an estimate for painting in "blue,gold,white and indigo" the cornices below the windows and the stories on the pilasters under the eaves.
It
also seems that Leonardo was involved in the reconstruction of
the new stables of the
castle as it is confirmed by the measurements in a well-known
drawing by Leonardo, datable to 1490.
Howerer, nowdays there aren't any of the new technical devices planned by Leonardo.
Somebody also believes that Leonardo gave his contribution to the plan of the famous covered road which leads to the castle.
Moreover,it is quite certain that Leonardo was in Vigevano between 1492 and 1494; actually, he decribed the waters and mills of Vigevano quite often in his notes of that time.