The Pinoteca Ambrosiana is Milan's best known art museum. It has works by a number of masters, but probably is most famous for the
Codex Atlanticus, the largest collection of Leonardo's notebooks, held by the associated Biblioteca Ambrosiana. A few pages of it are on display, carefully preserved and guarded. We had visited the Ambrosiana in 2011, but it has been, what?--days!--since we were last in a museum, so I wanted to return. This on Sunday, April 28th.
|
Entrance to the Ambrosiana |
|
Nice Botticelli tondo |
|
Ditto Ghirlandiao |
|
And a Pinturrichio |
|
Rene Ssance, Death of St. Kermit |
|
Detail |
|
From 20 paces you'd swear this was a Leonardo, and you
wouldn't be far off: it's Bernardino Luini's Sacred Family with St. Ann and St. John; Luini was a member of
Leonardo's inner circle, and his works were often attributed
to Mr. Smoky |
|
One of the attractions of the Ambrosiana for me is this, the cartoon of Rafael's
great School of Athens, in the former papal apartments in the Vatican; in charcoal,
and, of course, the whole wall; brilliantly displayed with a small library of books
in the room to look at and help with the comparison between the plan and its
execution |
|
Of course the big change is the addition of Michaelangelo as Heraclitus and
Rafael himself somewhere on the far right; Plato is played by Mr. Smoky himself |
|
Another attraction of the Ambrosiana are several Brueghels, well, Jan Brueghels,
not the biggie Brueghels |
|
Mr. Nice Guy Expulsion |
|
Looking down into a reading room of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana; Vicki notes
the humongous card catalogs on the right |
|
Moving right along, this is identified as a Madonna and
Bambino by the Master of San Miniato; San Miniato is/
was a monastery overlooking Florence, just above the
Michaelangelo Belvedere (look for scores of tour buses);
San Miniato himself was one of those early Christian
martyrs who was decapitated but who picked up his head
and walked off into the sunset... |
|
Anyhow, as I look at her, I am thinking Simonetta and that this is a lost
Botticelli; it's of exactly the right age, later 1400s; think about it |
|
In addition to all the artwork, the Ambrosiana has some nice interiors |
|
Never miss an Avercamp winter scene, even if it's horribly lost in Milan |
|
Courtyard |
|
Now in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana |
|
With its large exhibit of pages from Leonardo's notebooks; even his engineering
drawing are smoky, chiaroscuro |
|
And, really by Leonardo, and not Luini, his Portrait of a Musician, oil on panel,
c. 1519 |
|
Interestingly, there's not all that much to the gift shoppe |
1 comment:
Great collection of art! Maybe our next Italy trip we'll have to stop in Milan...
Post a Comment