Meanwhile, the money that Leonardo had brought with him from Florence was almost gone. He had been forced to move from his apartment to a single room and now he was barely able to live from day to day. Although the court of Ludovico Sforza was one of the richest in the world, artists were frequently treated as servants; often they were the last to be paid for their services. Also, Leonardo was a foreigner in the city, which meant he was regarded with suspicion.
Because of these reasons, Leonardo finally decided to do what the Milanese artists did—they banded together in groups sharing work and costs. Leonardo had met a young artist of twenty-eight, Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, at the court of Ludovico. Ambrogio was court painter to the Sforza family and had achieved some success. Ambrogio recognized in the handsome stranger from Florence, however, the touch of genius, and he realized that his own talents would be furthered by learning from Leonardo. The two young men decided to pool their abilities. Ambrogio offered both lodging and a studio; and, in association with his two half-brothers, one a woodcarver, another a miniaturist, and his elder brother, a minter of coins, they would not lack for commissions.
Commissions weren’t long in coming. On April 25, 1483, a contract was signed between Bartolommeo degli Scarlione, a prior of the Fraternity of the Immaculate Conception, and Ambrogio and Leonardo for an altarpiece. The fee was two hundred ducats, with a promise of more if it were delivered on time and was satisfactory to the Fraternity. Delivery date was to be December 8, 1484. Ambrogio was to paint the altar wings and Leonardo the center piece—a picture of the Blessed Virgin and Child.
But when the painting was finished, it was not according to the instructions set forth in the contract. Leonardo had too independent a mind to be bound by conformity. Nor was it completed on time. Indeed, for twenty years the quarrel between the Fraternity and the painters went on. After ten years, Ludovico was asked to intervene for the money owed; after he failed, another ten years went by and the King of France himself was finally asked to settle the dispute. Leonardo wanted his one hundred ducats and the Fraternity offered twenty-five. Eventually, a secret agreement was arrived at and the painting was restored to Leonardo and Ambrogio. Leonardo’s painting, the masterpiece entitled the “Virgin of the Rocks,” now hangs in the museum of the Louvre in Paris.