Beauty and the Ideal

Look closely at the plaster busts of Paris and Beatrice and you'll find small metal studs set into them. These are repère, the reference points Canova's workshop used to copy a plaster model, measurement by measurement, into a block of marble.

Twelve of these busts, made between 1807 and 1818 and each 50 to 60 cm tall, turned up in Villa Canal alla Gherla near Treviso and were restored by Banca Ifis. They stand in a redesigned Room 1 around a finished marble Vestal of 1818-19, back on show at Brera after more than a century. You meet them before any painting, because Room 1 is now where the Pinacoteca begins. Napoleon stands in bronze out in the courtyard, so inside it's his mother and three of his sisters who greet you first.

It's one room, so treat it as the prelude to the collection rather than a trip of its own. Entry is included in the standard ticket, Tuesday to Sunday 8:30 to 19:15, last admission 18:00.