Bagatti Valsecchi Museum
Encyclopedia
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum is a not-for-profit historic house museum
in the Montenapoleone district http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org/english/montenapoleone/ of downtown Milan
, northern Italy
. The Italian Renaissance art and decorative arts collections of the barons Bagatti Valsecchi are displayed in their home, as they wished them to be. Hence, visitors may view not only particular pieces of art, but also the house's authentic ambiances, expressive of late 19th century aristocratic Milanese taste.
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum’s permanent collections principally contain Italian Renaissance
decorative arts (such as maiolica
, furniture
, tapestry
, metalwork, leather
, glassware
and precious table-top coffers made of ivory
, or “stucco
and pastiglia”), some sculpture
s (including a Madonna and Child lunette by a follower of Donatello
), and many painting
s. Europe
an Renaissance weapons, armor, clocks and a few textiles and scientific and musical instruments complete the collection assembled by the Barons Bagatti Valsecchi.
/14th century and the Seicento
/17th century, but most date to the Quattrocento
/15th century, or the Cinquecento
/16th century. The following are of particular interest:
International Committee for Historic House Museums from its founding in 1998 until the end of the board’s first triennial in 2002, continues to support activities geared to furthering our understanding of this kind of museum. For this reason, the indexes of the first three DEMHIST Acts for the conferences are available online on the DEMHIST page of the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum website. References to other publications, including the Acts of a 2005 conference on historic house museums in Milan, are also available http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org/english/BIBLIOGRAFIA_eng.htm.
Historic house museums
A historic house museum is a house that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home...
in the Montenapoleone district http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org/english/montenapoleone/ of downtown Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The Italian Renaissance art and decorative arts collections of the barons Bagatti Valsecchi are displayed in their home, as they wished them to be. Hence, visitors may view not only particular pieces of art, but also the house's authentic ambiances, expressive of late 19th century aristocratic Milanese taste.
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum’s permanent collections principally contain Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
decorative arts (such as maiolica
Maiolica
Maiolica is Italian tin-glazed pottery dating from the Renaissance. It is decorated in bright colours on a white background, frequently depicting historical and legendary scenes.-Name:...
, furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
, tapestry
Tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...
, metalwork, leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
, glassware
Glassware
This list of glassware includes drinking vessels , tableware, such as dishes, and flatware used to set a table for eating a meal, general glass items such as vases, and glasses used in the catering industry whether made of glass or plastics such as polystyrene and...
and precious table-top coffers made of ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
, or “stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
and pastiglia”), some sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s (including a Madonna and Child lunette by a follower of Donatello
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...
), and many painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s. Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Renaissance weapons, armor, clocks and a few textiles and scientific and musical instruments complete the collection assembled by the Barons Bagatti Valsecchi.
Paintings
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, although originally intended as a private home, not a gallery, has an interesting collection of Italian Renaissance paintings. A few are from the TrecentoTrecento
The Trecento refers to the 14th century in Italian cultural history.Commonly the Trecento is considered to be the beginning of the Renaissance in art history...
/14th century and the Seicento
Seicento
This article talks about culture and history in 17th century Italy. For more specific information regarding the Baroque artistic and social period in Italy, please see Italian Baroque. For an article regarding Italian history from the 16th to the mid-19th century, see Early Modern Italy...
/17th century, but most date to the Quattrocento
Quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of 15th century Italy are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento...
/15th century, or the Cinquecento
Cinquecento
Cinquecento is a term used to describe the Italian Renaissance of the 16th century, including the current styles of art, music, literature, and architecture.-Art:...
/16th century. The following are of particular interest:
- S. Giustina de’ Borromeis, Giovanni BelliniGiovanni BelliniGiovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...
, 1475 ca. - Beatified Lorenzo Giustiniani, Gentile BelliniGentile BelliniGentile Bellini was an Italian painter. From 1474 he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice.- Biography :...
, 1470 ca., in its original frame - Christ in Majesty, Virgin, Christ Child and Saints, Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, aka GiampietrinoGiampietrinoGiampietrino, possibly Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli , was a north Italian painter of the Lombard school and the Leonardo circle, succinctly characterized by Sidney J. Freedberg as an "exploiter of Leonardo's repertory."...
, 1540s (painter inspired by Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
) - S. Francis, S. John the Baptist, Bernardo ZenaleBernardo ZenaleBernardo Zenale was an Italian painter and architect.- Biography :Zenale was born in Treviglio, Lombardy, where in 1485 he finished the great polyptych for the church of St. Martin, together with his fellow Bernardino Butinone. Later he collaborated to the decoration of the Certosa di Pavia...
, 1507 ca. (painter inspired by Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
) - S. Francis and S. Mary Magdalen; the Prophet Isaiah, Lorenzo di NiccolòLorenzo di NiccolòLorenzo di Niccolò was an Italian painter active in Florence from 1391 to 1412.Often erroneously cited as the son of Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, with whom he realized some works, this artist transformed his style from one more reminiscent of Giotto to one more elegant and linear, similar to that of...
, active in Florence between 1391 and 1412, originally found in the Medici Chapel of Santa Croce, FlorenceBasilica di Santa Croce di FirenzeThe Basilica di Santa Croce is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 metres south east of the Duomo. The site, when first chosen, was in marshland outside the city walls... - Four allegorical figures, Andrea LilioAndrea LilioAndrea Lilio was an Italian painter born in Fano, not far from Ancona, hence he also is known as L'Anconitano.He painted mainly in his native city, as well as in Rome, where he was active from the beginning of the 17th century until around 1640...
, oil on canvas, 1640s
DEMHIST
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, home to DEMHIST, ICOM'sInternational Council of Museums
The International Council of Museums is an international organization of museums and museum professionals that is committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible.- Overview :Created...
International Committee for Historic House Museums from its founding in 1998 until the end of the board’s first triennial in 2002, continues to support activities geared to furthering our understanding of this kind of museum. For this reason, the indexes of the first three DEMHIST Acts for the conferences are available online on the DEMHIST page of the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum website. References to other publications, including the Acts of a 2005 conference on historic house museums in Milan, are also available http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org/english/BIBLIOGRAFIA_eng.htm.