Poldi Pezzoli Museum
Museo Poldi Pezzoli is an art museum in Milan that was originally created from the private collection of Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli. The museum is located in the former residence of Poldi Pezzoli, built at the end of the nineteenth century. It houses a large collection of weapons, armor, paintings of the 14th-19th centuries, Italian classic sculpture, Renaissance furniture, Persian carpets and Flemish tapestries, Venetian glass and antique ceramics.
History of the building
The young aristocrat Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli's passion for art led him to add to the family's art collection. When he died in 1879, he left his palace and his works of art to the Brera Academy, and in 1881 the Poldi Pezzoli Museum was opened. During World War II, the museum was badly damaged; many paintings were completely destroyed. The remaining works of art survived, and those that were damaged but could be repaired were restored. The building was rebuilt and reopened to the public in 1951.
Founder of the collection
Poldi Pezzoli was a Milanese tastemaker who loved to share his home, and in his will he included precise instructions for turning the palazzo into a museum "for perpetual public use and benefit." The foundation that runs the Poldi Pezzoli Museum today has moved with the times, entrusting major architectural projects to Luigi Caccia Dominioni and Arnaldo Pomodoro, opening doors to contemporary artists such as Giulio Paolini, and expanding the collection through exceptional donations such as the recent acquisition of the Reading Virgin Antonello da Messina.
Exquisite masterpieces
Museo Poldi Pezzoli provides a wonderful setting for the collection of Italian Renaissance art, which is complemented by a wide variety of decorative porcelain, sculptures, tapestries and clocks. The staircase, in neo-Baroque style, leads us through rooms with paintings by Mantegna, Botticelli, Pollaiuolo, Lotto and Ceruti, and delights us with its new frescoed ceiling. One of the highlights of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum is the armory, a magnificent room with a wide variety of weapons and armor. In addition, visitors should not miss the Golden Room, which houses the museum's masterpieces, one of which is "Portrait of a Young Lady" by Antonio Pollaiuolo. A representative of the London National Gallery in 1858, after visiting the home of a young collector, commented on the Poldi Pezzoli Museum as a beautifully decorated house in the modern Milanese style. Eclectic and sophisticated in style, his palazzo was a hotbed of new trends and attracted the most famous architects and designers of the time.
