Sala delle Asse
A room, not a picture: Leonardo's painted bower of interlaced trees covering the vault of a tower chamber in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan.
Sala delle Asse, Castello Sforzesco, Milan
The painting shows a real, identified place that you can find today. The exact spot the artist worked from is not necessarily known.
Sala delle Asse — at a glance
- Artist
- Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
- Year
- c. 1498
- Movement
- Italian Renaissance
- Place
- Castello Sforzesco, Milan, Italy
- Viewpoint
- Inside a painted room — the location is the chamber itself; open in limited periods
- Medium
- Tempera / mixed media on plaster (ceiling and walls)
- Now at
- Castello Sforzesco, Milan (in situ)
Overview
The Sala delle Asse (‘Room of the Wooden Boards’) is not a portable painting but a decorated room: a large chamber on the ground floor of a corner tower of the Castello Sforzesco, the Sforza fortress in Milan. Around 1498 Leonardo da Vinci painted its vaulted ceiling and upper walls as a dense arbour of sixteen mulberry trees whose branches interlace overhead and are bound together with a knotted golden cord, opening at the crown to a small patch of sky.
Much of the original paint is lost or heavily restored, and the room has been under long-term study and conservation; it opens to the public in limited periods.
The story behind the room
Scholarship Leonardo worked for Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, known as ‘il Moro’ — a nickname punning on both ‘the Moor’ and the mulberry (moro in Italian). The bower of mulberry trees and the elaborate interlace are usually read as a compliment to the Duke and an emblem of the Sforza dynasty. Documents of 1498 mention Leonardo at work on the room.
Scholarship After the fall of the Sforza the castle became a barracks and the decoration was whitewashed; the trees were rediscovered in the nineteenth century and repainted by restorers, so what is visible today is a mixture of Leonardo's surviving passages and later reconstruction.
Where was Sala delle Asse painted?
Scholarship The Sala delle Asse is in the north-east (Falconiera) tower of the Castello Sforzesco, the large brick fortress at the edge of central Milan, now a civic museum complex. The room itself is the ‘location’ — visitors stand inside Leonardo's painted bower. Because of its fragility it is shown only during scheduled openings and has been repeatedly closed for conservation.
How we know
- The painted ceiling decoration is in a specific room of the Castello Sforzesco; the stored coordinate was a church on Lake Como. Repointed to the castle — the room is a real, visitable place.
What is in the painting?
Sixteen mulberry trees rise from the walls, painted as if rooted in the room, their trunks banded and their crowns meeting to fill the whole vault with foliage. Through the leaves runs a long golden rope tied in intricate knots — the same kind of endless interlace Leonardo used elsewhere. At the centre of the ceiling the branches part around a coat of arms and a glimpse of open sky. In one lunette, monochrome fragments of a rocky landscape and tree roots — closer to Leonardo's own hand — have been uncovered beneath later paint.
Look closely
The interlaced canopy
Sixteen tree crowns meet overhead to cover the whole vault in leaves, hiding the architecture.
The knotted golden cord
A single rope tied in endless knots runs through the branches — Leonardo's signature interlace motif.
The oculus of sky
At the centre of the ceiling the branches part around a coat of arms and a small patch of open sky.
The uncovered roots
In one lunette, monochrome rock and tree roots closer to Leonardo's own hand have been revealed beneath later paint.
Analysis
Composition and design
The painted trees turn a square room into an open-air pergola, dissolving the architecture into foliage and knotwork.
Scholarship Leonardo treats the vault as a continuous canopy rather than a set of framed scenes: the trunks align with the room's corners and ribs, so the structure seems to grow rather than to be built, and the eye is carried up and around by the branches and the unbroken golden cord to the sky at the apex.
History & provenance
The room's decoration has been restored several times since its nineteenth-century rediscovery, most recently in a major campaign built around the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death in 2019. It is part of the Castello Sforzesco museums and opens to visitors during announced periods.
Sources
- Castello Sforzesco, Milan (Musei del Castello) — the Sala delle Asse: history, condition and access
- Comune di Milano — Sala delle Asse conservation project (2013–2019, Leonardo cinquecentenario)
Frequently asked
Is the Sala delle Asse a painting you can move?
No. It is a room — a chamber in a tower of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan whose ceiling and upper walls Leonardo painted around 1498 as a canopy of interlaced trees. The room itself is the work.
Can you visit it?
Yes, but only at certain times. Because the decoration is fragile and often under conservation, the room opens to the public in scheduled periods rather than continuously.
How much of it is really by Leonardo?
Not much of the visible surface. The trees were whitewashed after the Sforza period, rediscovered in the 1800s and largely repainted by restorers. Some more authentic fragments — monochrome roots and rock in a lunette — have since been uncovered.
Why mulberry trees?
Leonardo's patron, Duke Ludovico Sforza, was nicknamed ‘il Moro’, which puns on the mulberry (moro). The bower of mulberries and the knotted cord are read as an emblem of the Sforza and a compliment to the Duke.
Where is the room?
In the Falconiera tower of the Castello Sforzesco, the Sforza fortress at the edge of central Milan, now a civic museum.
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