Every work of art is a surprise. But even more so when dogs, cats, serpents, birds and monkeys make way for more unusual animals, such as toads, for instance. And if the artist places a toad on its back under the figure of Archangel Michael, the mystery increases along with the curiosity. So what does this animal represent? At the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Madonna of the Towers, masterpiece by Bramantino, dating back to the start of the XVI Century, communicates, from the point of view of content, a clear position against the fear of heresy, the evident total defeat of evil through faith. The Virgin seated on a monumental marble throne, covered with a red drape, solemnly hands a palm to Saint Ambrose. The Saint is kneeling on the left, right in front of Archangel Michael who entrusts the effigy of the work’s patron to Baby Jesus who is seated on the lap of the Virgin, ready to receive it. In this symmetrical game of mirrors where the subjects correspond (the two angels are complementary as are the two towers behind them), the two symbols of evil are only glimpsed, placed at the bottom of the painting by the artist. The dead man at the foot of Ambrose is the great heresiarch Arius, symbol of Aryanism, ideally defeated by the faith of the Saint. The disturbing image of the toad placed by Bramantino below Michael represents wickedness defeated.
A site-specific installation, conceived for the space of the agora, and which at the same time is a preview of the exhibition that Adrian Paci will hold at Mudec next Spring.
Twelve restored plaster busts by Antonio Canova, discovered in a villa in Veneto, are the highlight of a new exhibition at Milan’s Pinacoteca di Brera, celebrating Neoclassical sculpture and the return of the marble Vestale.
Eyes in Dialogue: Berengo Gardin and Ramistella at Leica Galerie
At Leica Galerie Milan, the works of Gianni Berengo Gardin and Roselena Ramistella create a cross-generational dialogue, part of the 100th anniversary of the Leica I, the first compact 35mm film camera.
135 years after her birth, the Diocesan Museum of Milan recounts the peak of Dorothea Lange’s career, when between the 1930s and 1940s the American photographer bore witness to the dramatic current events in the United States.