The other place I hadn't been into in Milan was the Brera, Milan's great art gallery. Last time I was in Milan covid still ruled. You had to get advance tickets to avoid overcrowding, and there were none available for when I had time to go. So here I was, second time lucky.
In the courtyard is Antonio Canova's statue of Napoleon, turning a famously short person into heroic classical emperor with body to die for. (Give up the gym membership, all you need is a great artist...)
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| An example of family teamwork this huge canvas was started by Gentile Bellini and finished after his death by his brother Giovanni |
From the Renaissance down to the Victorian era there seems to have been an obsession for the decorative value of cherubs, or to call a spade a spade, naked toddlers. Taken to extremes here.
There are a lot of modern works on display, in amongst the earlier works, and awaiting separate galleries to be built. Including Picasso's head of a bull.
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| Bramante's Christ Tied the Column, notable because it is a painting by Bramante, who is largely known only as an architect. There is a reason we use the term "Renaissance Man" |
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| One iof the most famous works here, Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus. Of course you don't need to go to Milan to see it - there is another version in the National Gallery in London |
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| A not uncommon religious subject, Isaac sacrificing his son, although here a rather more muscular mature son than is normally supposed. I don't think he needed an angel to intercede with muscles like that. Just not thought this through😃 |
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| I do like these still lives, although teh subject matter has rather gone out of fashion. Who would paint a collection of dead game nowadays? |
They also have a lot of old classical reproductions to wander around
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