First Knot

c. 1490/1500 · Print

Notice

1482–1500 · Lieu de travail
Milan
1490
Salaì joins his household
Salaì — “the little unclean one”, that is, the devil — entered Leonardo's household as an assistant. Within a year Leonardo called him “a thief, a liar, stubborn, and a glutton”, yet treated him with great indulgence, and Salaì stayed in his household for the next thirty years.
16 July 1493
“Caterina came”: perhaps his mother
Leonardo wrote in his notebook: “16 July 1493, Caterina came.” An elderly woman came to keep his house, and according to one hypothesis she was his mother.
1499
The French take Milan
Milan was captured by the troops of King Louis XII of France. Leonardo left the city, and the model of the Francesco Sforza monument was badly damaged.
1500 · Résidence
Florence
1502
In the service of Cesare Borgia
In Cesena Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, travelling throughout Italy with him. To win his patronage he drew a town plan of Imola, after which Borgia made him his chief military engineer and architect.