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The Sforza — Lodovico Maria il Moro Sforza

Lodovico Maria il Moro Sforza (or Lodovico il Moro Sforza or Ludovicus Sforza), Duke of Bari, Duke of Milan and uncle of Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan

This fantastic portrait of Lodovico il Moro Sforza was not painted by Hans Memling, as the art historians still claim, but by the most talented court painter of Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza, Zanetto Bugatto, who was sent to Flandern to the famous master Rogier van der Weyden in 1463 to learn the Burgundian-German style of painting. Because of the death of the latter in 1464, Zanetto Bugatto spent at least the next two years in the workshop of Hans Memling, one of the students of Rogier van der Weyden. As you can see at this portrait, Zanetto Bugatto did not only copy his second master very well, he was even a better portrait painter than both of his teachers.


Born:
22. September 1451

Deceased:
17. May 1508 (in French captivity in the castle of Loches)

Father:

Francesco Sforza (1401-1466), Duke of Milan


Mother:

Bianca Maria Visconti (1425-1468), daughter of the Milanese Duke Filippo Maria Visconti († 1447)


Spouse:
  1. Beatrice d'Este (1475-1497), daughter of Ercole I., Duke of Ferrara, Reggio and Modena, and Leonora of Aragon, daughter of King Ferrante of Naples († 1494)
  2. Lucrezia Crivelli (clandestine marriage)

Children:

His legitimate children:

see: Beatrice d'Este and Lucrezia Crivelli

and his illegitimate children:

  1. his daughter Maddalena, born c. 1480, deceased in 1520; since 1494 married to Matteo, Count of Litta d'Arese († 1513); her mother was probably Lodovico's mistress Bernardina de Corradis
  2. his daughter Bianca, in 1482 born by his mistress Bernardina de Corradis, deceased on 22. November 1496; on 31. December 1489 Bianca was married to a distant relative of her father, the Milanese military commander Galeazzo da Sanseverino († 1525); being very young, she stayed with her father until early 1496
  3. his son Leone (1482-after 1530), whose mother was an unknown Roman woman, became the Abbot of the Monastery of San Vittore in Piacenza in 1495
  4. his son Cesare, born on 21. March 1491 by his mistress Cecilia Gallerani; in 1498 he was promoted to become the abbot of the Milanese monastery San Nazaro Maggiore and in 1503 to become the Canon of Milan; he died after 1525 and he made - as his portrait shows - no career in the church; with very high probability he was married to Isabella of Aragon (1500-1550), the youngest daughter of the Neapolitan King Federigo and cousin of Isabella of Aragon, the famous Duchess of Milan.

More Images:
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Reading Suggestions:

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Dritter Band der Sforza Serie
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