Abstract
The educational manuscripts commissioned by the Sforza dukes and duchesses of Milan for their children in the second half of the fifteenth century contain elaborate portraits and genealogies that served to legitimize their dynasty. A remarkable yet understudied example is the schoolbook known as the Codice Sforza, made in 1467 for the fifteen-year-old Ludovico Sforza, the future Milanese despot. Transcribed by Ludovico himself, the text consists of commentaries composed by his humanist tutor Francesco Filelfo on the Rhetorica ad Herennium. The elaborate series of portraits of Milanese rulers, ancient military heroes, Ludovico, and Filelfo, celebrates the Sforza as the illustrious heirs of the Visconti dukes and heroes of antiquity, and provided Ludovico with virtuous models. This article presents new proposals regarding the manuscript’s patron, the authorship of the illuminations, and the significance of the codex in the context of Sforza politics and Ludovico’s future patronage.
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