iCastello Sforzesco · Centro Storico
Masterpieces from the Gabinetto dei Disegni's 30,000+ works on paper, from Leonardo and Tiepolo to Boccioni and Keith Haring, in the Salette della Grafica.
Count Gian Giacomo Attendolo Bolognini set out to own Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo. The Leonardo he bought, a head of Leda wrapped in a knot of braids, is the real thing. His Raphael and Michelangelo turned out to be copies, though old ones, made in the 1500s.
That is the idea of the whole show: just over 60 drawings in the Salette della Grafica, split into 15 sections, one for each collector who gave their sheets to Milan. The curators mixed the most requested pieces with things never shown before. You come for Leonardo and also find Keith Haring, a marker sketch left in the guest album of the restaurant La Scaletta, whose owner kept pens on hand for diners. Your doodles on the paper tablecloth went out with the breadcrumbs.
Come for the story of who built a city's collection rather than finished pictures: many sheets are preparatory studies. Entry is free, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 17:00, and the run has been extended to 8 November.
מבחר מתוך יותר מ־30,000 עבודות על נייר של Gabinetto dei Disegni, המוצגות ב־Salette della Grafica. מליאונרדו וטייפולו ועד בוצ'יוני וקית' הרינג: רשימת אורחים ששום ארוחת ערב במילאנו לא הייתה יכולה להכיל.
Leonardo's Study for the Head of Leda
Look for a woman's head under an elaborate weave of braids in red and black chalk, possibly made for a Leda painting that burned at Fontainebleau.
The Guasconi dining room
Carlo Ferrario's pencil and watercolour interior turned out to show collector Antonio Guasconi's own dining room; curators matched its overdoor painting and a cabinet to pieces the castle still owns.
Boccioni's Cavallo + cavaliere + case
A 1914 horse, rider and houses done in shades of blue watercolour, with the white of the paper left showing through.
The Disertori wall
One large frame packed with about thirty small sketches, from academic nudes to views of San Gimignano, hung tight to evoke an engraver's workshop.
The La Scaletta albums
Pages from a Milan restaurant's guest albums: a Keith Haring marker sketch, plus drawings left by Pierre Restany and Missoni.
You want finished paintings: these are works on paper, many of them preparatory studies.