In 1495 Cristoforo Solari was appointed by Lodovico Sforza to replace Antonio Mantegazza (d. 1495) as joint chief architect (with Giovanni Antonio Amadeo) of the façade of the Certosa di Pavia. This work was interrupted in 1497 when Lodovico commissioned Solari to carve the funerary monument to his consort Beatrice d'Este in Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.
