A week later, the necessary arrangements were in place for the prisoner to be delivered to Leonardo’s workshop. Lest his identity be made known, he would be muzzled, manacled and escorted in the back of a covered wagon. At the discretion of the guards, Leonardo would be permitted to paint him for as long as they deemed the situation acceptable. If the prisoner became violent, or if the chief guard felt they were in danger of his identity being revealed, he would be returned to the dungeon immediately.
The cart holding Leonardo’s Judas rattled through the streets of Milan on a fresh spring day in March. By the sides of the castello, daffodils and crocuses had sprouted on the lawn lining the moat, but none of these spring delights were seen by the prisoner, who journeyed with a hood over hi
