iMuseo Poldi PezzoliBrera / Quadrilatero della Moda
Un Tiziano per Milano
Dossier show on Titian's ties to Milan, built around a canvas never shown publicly, on long-term loan from a private collector; three autograph works and one copy.
More in Milan
X-rays of the canvas at the centre of this show found a bearded man under the Magdalene's face. The museum thinks he was the original patron, covered by Titian's assistant Girolamo Dente when the picture stayed in the workshop. Somewhere under that saint is a man who commissioned a Titian and got cropped out of it.
The canvas, never shown in public, is on long-term loan from a private collector. Three more works join it on Titian's ties to Milan, for the 450th anniversary of his death. You stand between it and a later Madonna and Child from Venice's Accademia and watch his brushwork loosen over twenty years. Then come the Ambrosiana's Man in Armour, identified as the condottiere il Medeghino, and a copy of the Crowning with Thorns that Napoleon took from Santa Maria delle Grazie.
A QR code in the first room maps the Titians still in Milan, from Brera to the Duomo. Entry is the EUR 15 museum ticket, discounted with an Ambrosiana ticket. Closed Tuesdays.
Editor's pick
X-rays found a bearded man under the Magdalene's face: probably the patron, painted out in Titian's workshop. Four paintings, one of them a copy, so this is a short, focused look at a privately owned canvas and Titian's Milan ties.
Look for
The hidden patron
Look at the Magdalene's face in the newly lent Madonna and Child: X-rays found a bearded man beneath it, painted over by Titian's assistant Girolamo Dente.
Two Madonnas, twenty years apart
The Accademia's later Madonna and Child is paired with the new canvas, its brushwork looser and its forms dissolving into light.
Il Medeghino in armour
The Ambrosiana's Man in Armour, identified as Gian Giacomo de' Medici, Carlo Borromeo's uncle, hangs beside the Castello Sforzesco medal that gave away who he was.
The Crowning with Thorns copy
Restored for the show, this late 18th-century copy records how Titian's altarpiece looked in Santa Maria delle Grazie for two centuries before it left for the Louvre.
Good for
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want a big Titian show: this is four paintings, one of them a copy.
Also at Museo Poldi Pezzoli
On now nearby
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Image credits
9
- Un Tiziano per MilanoCourtesy of Museo Poldi Pezzoli
- LIBERE! 1946-2026. Le conquiste delle donneGianni Berengo Gardin / Contrasto
- Pina Bausch, Le Sacre du printempsCourtesy of Museo Teatrale alla Scala
- 1946, La Scala rinasceCourtesy of Museo Teatrale alla Scala
- Museo Poldi PezzoliPaolobon140 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Gallerie d'Italia MilanoJwslubbock / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museo Teatrale alla ScalaDaniel Case / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museo Bagatti ValsecchiMelancholia~itwiki / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Palazzo CitterioGiovanni Dall'Orto / Wikimedia Commons