Milan - Brera Picture Gallery

(Local Name: Pinacoteca di Brera) On the first floor of the Palazzo di Brera is the Pinacoteca di Brera, one of Italy's finest picture galleries, which contains among many other exhibits futuristic paintings of the 20th century. The picture collection was founded as a didactic collection of the Art Academy and its principal exhibits were formed by pictures from churches and acquisition from Rome. Only some of the rooms of the Pinacoteca are open to the public. The chief strength of the Pinacoteca di Brera lies in the works by the north Italian masters.

Notable among 15th century pictures are works by Mantegna ("Madonna in a Ring of Angels' Heads" and "Lamentation"). The Venetian masters are represented by Carlo Crivelli (including "Enthroned Madonna della Candeletta"), Gentile ("Preaching of St Mark in Alexandria"), Giovanni Bellini ("Lamentation" and two Madonnas) and Cima da Conegliano. Pictures from later periods include works by Paolo Veronese, Titian ("Count Antonio Porcia" and "St Jerome") and Tintoretto ("Finding of St Mark's Body" and "Descent from the Cross", and portraits by Lorenzo Lotto and Giovanni Battista Moroni. The Lombard masters, disciples of Leonardo da Vinci, are well represented, with works by Bramantino, Sodoma, De Predis, Boltraffio and Andrea Solario. Artists of the Ferrarese school include Ercole de' Roberti ("Madonna with Saints") and Dosso Dossi. Coreggio of Parma is represented by a "Nativity" and an "Adoration of the Kings". There is an excellent representation of the Umbrian school, including works by Gentile da Fabriano ("Coronation of the Virgin with Saints"), Piero della Francesca ("Madonna with Saints and Duke Federico da Montefeltro") and Bramante (eight frescoes "Christ of the Column"). The most famous picture in the gallery is Raphael's "Marriage of the Virgin" ("Lo Sposalizio"), the finest work of his first period. There are also important works by 17th and 18th century artists. Outstanding among foreign masters are Rembrandt (portraits of women, including "The Artist's Sister"), Van Dyck ("Princess Amalie of Solms"), Rubens ("Last Supper") and El Greco ("St Francis").