The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of the
Brera Academy
The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera ("academy of fine arts of Brera"), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di ...
, which shares the site in the
Palazzo Brera
Palazzo Brera or Palazzo di Brera is a monumental palace in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It was a Jesuit college for two hundred years. It now houses several cultural institutions including the Accademia di Brera, the art academy of ...
.
History
![Room in the Pinacoteca di Brera 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Room_in_the_Pinacoteca_di_Brera_01.jpg)
The Palazzo Brera owes its name to the Germanic ''braida'', indicating a grassy opening in the city structure: compare the ''Bra'' of
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
. The convent on the site passed to the
Jesuits (1572), then underwent a radical rebuilding by
Francesco Maria Richini
Francesco Maria Richini (also spelled Ricchini) (9 February 1584 – 24 April 1658) was an Italian Baroque architect.
Biography
He was born in Milan and trained under Lorenzo Binago. He was patronized by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, Archbishop ...
(1627–28). When the
Jesuits were disbanded in 1773, the palazzo remained the seat of the astronomical
Observatory and the
Braidense National Library founded by the Jesuits. In 1774 the herbarium of the new
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
was added. The buildings were extended to designs by
Giuseppe Piermarini
Giuseppe Piermarini (; 18 July 1734 – 18 February 1808) was an Italian architect who trained with Luigi Vanvitelli in Rome and designed the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1776–78), which remains the work by which he is remembered. Indeed, "il P ...
, who was appointed professor in the Academy when it was formally founded in 1776, with
Giuseppe Parini
Giuseppe Parini (23 May 1729 – 15 August 1799) was an Italian enlightenment satirist and poet of the neoclassic period.
Biography
Parini (originally spelled Parino) was born in Bosisio (later renamed Bosisio Parini in his honour) in Brianza ...
as dean. Piermarini taught at the Academy for 20 years, while he was controller of the city's urbanistic projects, like the public gardens (1787–1788) and piazza Fontana (1780–1782).
For the better teaching of architecture, sculpture and the other arts, the Academy initiated by Parini was provided with a collection of casts after the Antique, an essential for inculcating a refined
Neoclassicism in the students. Under Parini's successors, the ''abate'' Carlo Bianconi (1778–1802) and artist
Giuseppe Bossi (1802–1807), the Academy acquired the first paintings of its ''Pinacoteca'' during the reassignment of works of Italian art that characterized the
Napoleonic era
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislativ ...
.
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...
's ''
Sposalizio
:''The painting which inspired this piece of music is also sometimes called the Sposalizio; for it, see Sposalizio (painting).''
Sposalizio is the title of the first piece in Franz Liszt's '' Deuxième Année de Pèlerinage: Italie'' (Second Year ...
'' (the ''Marriage of the Virgin'') was the key painting of the early collection, and the Academy increased its cultural scope by taking on associates across the
First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...
:
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
,
Pietro Benvenuti
Pietro Benvenuti (8 January 1769 – 3 February 1844) was an Italian neoclassical painter.
Biography
Born in Arezzo in Tuscany, he was influenced by the style of Jacques-Louis David. He was a student of the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, th ...
,
Vincenzo Camuccini
Vincenzo Camuccini (22 February 1771 – 2 September 1844) was an Italian painter of Neoclassic histories and religious paintings. He was considered the premier academic painter of his time in Rome.
Biography
Camuccini was born in Rome, and fi ...
,
Canova
Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...
,
Thorvaldsen and the archaeologist
Ennio Quirino Visconti
Ennio Quirino Visconti (November 1, 1751 – February 7, 1818) was an Italian antiquarian and art historian, papal Prefect of Antiquities, and the leading expert of his day in the field of ancient Roman sculpture. His son, Pietro Ercole Visconti, ...
.
In 1805, under Bossi's direction, the series of annual exhibitions was initiated with a system of prizes, a counterpart of the
Paris Salons, which served to identify Milan as the cultural capital for contemporary painting in Italy through the 19th century. The Academy's artistic committee, the ''Commissione di Ornato'' exercised a controlling influence on public monuments, a precursor of today's Sopraintendenze Delle Belle Arti.
The opening of the new "Reale Pinacoteca" was celebrated on 15 August 1809, Napoleon's birthday. The paintings were displayed in three of the four Napoleonic halls with pavilion vaults. Fundamental paintings by
Bellini,
Mantegna,
Carpaccio
Carpaccio (, , ) is a dish of meat or fish (such as beef, veal, venison, salmon or tuna), thinly sliced or pounded thin, and served raw, typically as an appetizer. It was invented in 1963 by Giuseppe Cipriani from Harry's Bar in Venice, Ital ...
,
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...
,
Veronese and
Tintoretto
Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...
had entered the gallery.
The
Romantic era
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
witnessed the triumph of academic history painting, guided at the Academy by
Francesco Hayez
Francesco Hayez (; 10 February 1791 – 12 February 1882) was an Italian painter. He is considered one of the leading artists of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, and is renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories, and ...
, and the introduction of the landscape as an acceptable academic genre, inspired by Williamo's Davias and his more known cousin
Giuseppe Bisi
Giuseppe Bisi (1787–1869) was an Italian painter, mainly of landscapes in a Romantic style.
In 1829, he traveled to Rome, and painted landscapes in Lazio. He returned to Milan and in 1838, was named professor of landscape painter for th ...
, while the Academy moved towards becoming an institution for teaching the history of art.
In 1882, the Paintings Gallery was separated from the Academy and
Giuseppe Bertini was appointed as its first director. Bertini was succeeded by Corrado Ricci who, during his direction from 1898-1903, established the Photo Library and systematically reorganized the Picture Gallery according to schools and periods.
In 1903, the Pinacoteca opened 19 new rooms that allowed the exhibition of over 100 newly acquired works, such as
Bramante
Donato Bramante ( , , ; 1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style ...
's frescoes from the Visconti Panigarola house. The art historian and critic Antonio Morassi, who served as director at the Pinacoteca from 1934 to 1939, opened up the collection to 19th century painting and a new exhibition dominated by paintings by
Hayez was created. There was also a precursory opening to the purchase of 20th century paintings, such as
Guttuso's Portrait of
Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia ( , ; born Alberto Pincherle ; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990) was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia is best known for his de ...
and
Mafai's "Modelli nello studio".
The Brera Observatory hosted the astronomer
Giovanni Schiaparelli
Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 14 March 1835 – 4 July 1910) was an Italian astronomer and science historian.
Biography
He studied at the University of Turin, graduating in 1854, and later did research at Berlin Observatory, ...
for four decades, and the
Orto Botanico di Brera is a historic
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
located behind the Pinacoteca. In 1939 during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the works of the Pinacoteca were secured by the director
Fernanda Wittgens
Fernanda is a Portuguese, Spanish and Italian feminine equivalent of Fernando, a male given name of Germanic origin, with an original meaning of "adventurous, bold journey".
__TOC__ People
*Fernanda Abreu (born 1961), Brazilian popular singer
* ...
, while the building suffered serious damage due to the bombings of
1943
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured.
* January 4 ...
(collapsed in twenty-six of the thirty-four sale).
Fernanda Wittgens, Pinacoteca di Brera
/ref>
The Pinacoteca began its slow resurrection from the ruins in February 1946 thanks to the funding of some historic Milanese families, including the Bernocchi Bernocchi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Antonio Bernocchi (1859–1930), business magnate and philanthropist
* Eraldo Bernocchi (born c. 1963), Italian musician
* Piero Bernocchi (born 1947), Italian trade unioni ...
family, and to the work of the architect-designer Piero Portaluppi, Gualtiero Galmanini and the superintendent Fernanda Wittgens
Fernanda is a Portuguese, Spanish and Italian feminine equivalent of Fernando, a male given name of Germanic origin, with an original meaning of "adventurous, bold journey".
__TOC__ People
*Fernanda Abreu (born 1961), Brazilian popular singer
* ...
. Among the main acquisitions, it is worth mentioning the cycle of detached paintings from the oratory of Mocchirolo
The Oratory of Saint Stephen ( it, Oratorio di Mocchirolo) is a Roman Catholic chapel in Mocchirolo in the town of Lentate sul Seveso, part of the Province of Monza and Brianza, Lombardy, northern Italy.
The interior walls of the church once cont ...
(14th century).
Gallery
See List of Paintings of the Pinacoteca of Brera
File:Carlo Crivelli - Madonna della Candeletta - WGA5785.jpg, ''Madonna della Candeletta'' by Carlo Crivelli
Carlo Crivelli (Venice, c. 1430 – Ascoli Piceno, c. 1495) was an Italian Renaissance painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility, who spent his early years in the Veneto, where he absorbed influences from the Vivari ...
,
File:Andrea Mantegna - The Madonna of the Cherubim - WGA13979.jpg, '' Madonna of the Cherubim'' by Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in orde ...
,
File:Lamentación sobre Cristo muerto, por Andrea Mantegna.jpg, ''Lamentation of Christ
The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Jesus was crucified, his body was removed from the cross and his friends mourned over his body. This event has been depicted by m ...
'' by Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in orde ...
,
File:Bramantino - Crucifixion - WGA03068.jpg, ''Crucifixion'' by Bramantino
Bartolomeo Suardi, best known as Bramantino ( – ), was an Italian painter and architect, mainly active in his native Milan.
Biography
He was born in Milan, the son of Alberto Suardi, but his biography remains unclear, and was long complicated ...
,
File:MarriageVirgin.jpg, ''The Marriage of the Virgin
The Marriage of the Virgin is the subject in Christian art depicting the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The marriage is not mentioned in the canonical Gospels but is covered in several apocryphal sources and in later redactions, n ...
'' by Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...
,
File:Pieta Bellini.jpg, ''Pieta'' by Giovanni Bellini,
File:Piero, Pala di Brera.jpg, ''Holy Conversation
In art, a (; plural: ''sacre conversazioni''), meaning holy (or sacred) conversation, is a genre developed in Italian Renaissance painting, with a depiction of the Virgin and Child (the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus) amidst a group of saint ...
'' by Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca (, also , ; – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca i ...
,
File:El Beso (Pinacoteca de Brera, Milán, 1859).jpg, ''The Kiss'' by Francesco Hayez
Francesco Hayez (; 10 February 1791 – 12 February 1882) was an Italian painter. He is considered one of the leading artists of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, and is renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories, and ...
,
File:Guercino Abramo ripudia Agar.jpg, ''Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael'' by Guercino
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vi ...
,
File:Bramante-cristo-alla-colonna.jpg, ''Christ at the Column'' by Donato Bramante
Donato Bramante ( , , ; 1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance styl ...
,
File:Guido Cagnacci - The Death of Cleopatra - WGA3757.jpg, ''The Death of Cleopatra'' by Guido Cagnacci
Guido Cagnacci (13 January 1601 – 1663) was an Italian painter originally from Santarcangelo di Romagna. Associated most readily with the Baroque period, his mature works are characterized by their use of chiaroscuro and their sensual subje ...
File:Angelo Bronzino - Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune - WGA3261.jpg, ''Andrea Doria as Neptune'' by Agnolo Bronzino,
File:St. Lucas altarpiece.jpg, The '' San Luca Altarpiece'' by Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in orde ...
, 1453
File:Jacopo Tintoretto - Finding of the body of St Mark - Yorck Project.jpg, '' Finding of the body of St Mark'' by Tintoretto
Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...
,
File:Annibale Carracci - The Samaritan Woman at the Well - WGA4446.jpg, '' The Samaritan Woman at the Well'' by Annibale Carracci
File:Peter Paul Rubens - Last Supper - WGA20255.jpg, ''Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
'' by Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradi ...
, 1630–1631
File:Correggio 002.jpg, ''Adoration of the Magi'' by Correggio
Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...
,
File:Jan de Beer - Triptych - WGA1559.jpg, ''Brera Triptych'' by Jan de Beer,
File:Anthony van Dyck - Portrait of a Lady - WGA07402.jpg, ''Portrait of a Lady'' by Anthony van Dyck,
File:Mattia Preti 004.jpg, ''A Mother Entrusting Her Sons to Christ'' by Mattia Preti
Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John.
Life
Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Ca ...
,
File:Lorenzo Lotto 040.jpg, ''Portrait of Laura da Pola'' by Lorenzo Lotto,
File:CaravaggioEmmaus.jpg, alt=, ''Supper at Emmaus'' by Caravaggio, 1606
File:Tizian 030.jpg, ''St. Jerome in Wilderness'' by Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...
,
File:Titian - Portrait of Count Antonio Porcia - WGA22968.jpg, ''Portrait of Count Antonio Porcia'' by Titian,
File:Giovanni bellini, madonna di brera, 1510, 01 adjusted.JPG, ''Madonna and Child Blessing'' by Giovanni Bellini,
File:Jacopo Tintoretto - Sts Helen and Barbara Adoring the Cross - WGA22434.jpg, ''St. Helen and Barbara at the Cross'' by Tintoretto
See also
* Collections of Pinacoteca di Brera
* Aldo Carpi
Aldo Carpi (6 October 1886 – 27 March 1973) was an Italian artist, painter and writer, author of a collection of memoirs concerning his imprisonment in the infamous Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.
Biography
Born in Milan, early in his you ...
* '' Nativity with St Elizabeth and the Infant John the Baptist''
* '' Madonna and Child with an Angel''
* '' Portrait of Teresa Manzoni Stampa Borri''
References
Further reading
* .n.(1823). ''Guida alle sale della pinacoteca e dei concorsi nell'I. R. palazzo delle scienze e belle arti'' (in Italian). Milano: per G.B. Bianchi e C.
External links
Brera Gallery official website
Accademia di Brera official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinacoteca Di Brera
Tourist attractions in Milan
Culture in Milan
Art museums and galleries in Milan
1776 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire