Tree

At the same time he was painting the
Last Supper, Leonardo was
commissioned by Ludovico il Moro,
along with another Italian artist and
architect, Donato Framante, to paint the
walls of the Sala delle Asse, the great
hall on the ground floor of the Castello
Sforzesco. The resulting spectacular
fresco depicts strong, aged tree trunks
rising up from the floor to fill the vaulted
ceiling with an interconnected canopy of
all of the trees to form dense interwoven
branches that reflect Leonardo’s
interests and to imitate nature as a
whole. There are 16 trees in all that form
the impression of a cool outdoor space.
The Sforza coat of arms is clearly visible
in the centre of the canopy, with a blue
banner situated on the outer perimeters
that bear traces of inscriptions painted
in gold. This fresco was only discovered
in 1893 by Paul Muller Walde and was
subsequently restored. In 1954 two large
monochrome fragments were
discovered that were painted by brush
and depict large tree with roots that wind
through the rocks. And have been widely
accepted as Leonardo’s work.