The Cabinets of the Sacristy of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan and the Representation of Architecture

Abstract

After Beatrice d’Este’s death in 1497, the duke of Milan, Ludovico il Moro, commissioned cabinets for the storage of sacred objects (‘armariis ... ad res sacras custodiendas’) for the sacristy of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where he planned to be buried. Although the archival sources are not unanimous, the cabinets are identifiable with those that nowadays occupy the eastern and western walls of the Dominican room, decorated with coats of arms and mottos of the Sforza family. Existing scholarship focuses on the cabinets’ unusual decorative technique and the general composition of the cycle, based on a calculated perspective, but their place within a broader architectural culture has largely gone unnoticed. Whilst the question of their attribution remains open, this paper argues that the buildings depicted in the background of the biblical scenes give us an insight into the architectural and figurative practice of the anonymous masters.