Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, November 6 2019 - From 7 November 2019 to 10 February 2020, within the "Milan and Leonardo 500" schedule, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum is offering a very important exhibition in which it is exceptionally exhibited in Milan, for the first time after almost thirty years, the “Madonna Litta”, the famous painting in the Hermitage, together with a highly selected group of works executed by Leonardo and his closest students (from Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio to Marco d'Oggiono, from the still mysterious Master of the Sforzesca Altarpiece to Francesco Neapolitan) in the last two decades of the fifteenth century, when the master lived and was active in Milan, at the court of Ludovico il Moro.

“Leonardo and the Madonna Litta” – this is the title of the exhibition – is organized thanks to the support of the Bracco Foundation, Main Partner, supported by the Lombardy Region and the Municipality of Milan. The exhibition, curated by Pietro C. Marani and Andrea Di Lorenzo, with exhibition design and graphics by Migliore + Servetto Architects and graphic design by Salvatore Gregorietti, was also included among the national celebrations of the 500 years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci promoted and supported by MiBACT - Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, in those promoted by the territorial committee of Milan and Lombardy and in the Milano Leonardo 500 schedule, promoted by the Municipality of Milan | Culture.

The “Madonna Litta” is closely linked to the city of Milan: painted in the Lombard capital around 1490, it shows notable stylistic affinities with the second version of the “Virgin of the Rocks” preserved in the National Gallery in London. In the Duchy of Milan the painting now in the Hermitage enjoyed considerable success, as demonstrated by the large number of copies and derivations made by Lombard artists that have survived. Furthermore, in the nineteenth century it was the most renowned work of one of the most important collections of Milanese works of art, that of the Litta dukes (from which the nickname by which it is known throughout the world derives) and was preserved in the great palace of Corso Magenta; the Hermitage purchased it in 1865 from Duke Antonio Litta Visconti Arese (1819-1866).

On display the "Madonna Litta" is placed alongside another masterpiece born from a refined composition by Leonardo, the "Madonna with Child" from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum: the painting, executed around 1485-1487 by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio - the best of Leonardo's students in Milan - in all likelihood on the basis of preparatory studies developed by the Master, can be compared, from a stylistic point of view, to the first version of the "Virgin of the Rocks" in the Louvre. In the first half of the nineteenth century the "Madonna with Child" also belonged to the collection of the Litta dukes (it was purchased by Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli in 1864): it will therefore be an important occasion to be able to reunite it again in Milan, after over a century and a half , these two extraordinary and fascinating Leonardo paintings depicting the "Madonna and Child".

The exhibition also presents another painting by Poldi Pezzoli which depicts the "Nuckling Madonna": referring to an anonymous Lombard artist active in the first decade of the sixteenth century, it represents one of the most interesting and best quality derivations from the Madonna Litta that have survived. There will also be other paintings depicting the "Madonna and Child" by Marco d'Oggiono, Francesco Napoletano and the Master of the Sforzesca Altarpiece, which will allow us to illustrate how Leonardo and his closest followers (who often worked on the basis of projects and compositions of the Maestro) have approached this very widespread subject from a compositional point of view, in an ever new and original way.

Among the drawings on display is a beautiful study that can be safely attributed to Leonardo's hand, executed with metal point: kept in the Ambrosiana Library, it depicts a female profile and an eye with a clearly delineated eyelid, which compares very well with the eyes of the Virgin in the painting of the Hermitage. Furthermore, some studies by Boltraffio which are linked to the head of the Child and the drapery of the "Madonna Litta" and the "Madonna with Child" by Poldi Pezzoli (preserved respectively in Paris, Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt; in Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Kupferstichkabinett; in Oxford, Christ Church College).

Scientific investigations
Thanks to the support of the Bracco Foundation, which has always been committed to enhancing the relationship between science and art, a detailed campaign of diagnostic analyzes was also carried out on some works in the exhibition, coordinated by the Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology of the CNR in collaboration with the University of Milan and the University of Milan-Bicocca. The analyzes (X-rays, infrared reflectographies, UV, false color infrared...), performed according to a common protocol, gave rise to interesting and constructive comparisons; they have in fact made it possible to highlight the different ways of creating the preparatory drawings and paintings by the artists who worked in Leonardo's workshop, in close contact with each other, in a limited chronological period: from 1482 to 1499, the years of Leonardo's presence in Milan.

How an attribution is born
The extraordinary opportunity offered by the presence of the "Madonna Litta" in Milan, alongside and in direct comparison with other works performed by Leonardo's pupils in the same years, allows us to illustrate to audiences of all ages, in an extremely simple and didactic way, how it was born and how the attribution of a work of art changes over time. It is explained to visitors to the exhibition how the examination of archive documents, information on collection provenance and critical success, diagnostic analyzes and finally the study of "formal" and stylistic elements - a specific activity of the art historian connoisseur , which deals in particular with formulating the attributions of works of art - have allowed scholars to put forward often divergent hypotheses on the authorship of these works, using various elements to demonstrate their proposals - which today have been enriched with new tools scientific – which will be presented in the exhibition alongside the paintings themselves.

The data acquired from the scientific analyzes conducted on the works will be present in the exhibition thanks to a multimedia support system, as well as published and consultable, with free access by all users, also on the website of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and the Bracco Foundation. A day of studies will also be organised, open to all interested members of the public, with speeches by major specialists in the topics addressed in the exhibition.

Various collateral educational activities will also be organized for the entire duration of the exhibition: guided tours upon reservation for the public and families, educational itineraries for schools and children, a series of conferences on the themes of the exhibition entrusted to specialists in the topics addressed and open to all categories of the public and a cycle of workshops dedicated to drawing and decorative arts, in collaboration with the Cologni Foundation of Art Crafts.

The MADONNA LITTA_MILANO app, created by SENSE – immaterial Reality, enriches the exhibition and knowledge of the works on display. The visitor is able to receive information and discover details through the innovative language of Sense's Immaterial Reality. A new concept of interaction between the visitor and the work: in some cases it will be possible to compare, in others "touch" the paintings, enjoying points of view and details that were previously impossible to appreciate with the naked eye.

The album “Become a pupil of Leonardo” was also created, based on a concept by Invisible Studio, with the collaboration of Abbonamento Musei Lombardia/Valle d'Aosta and the support of the Youth Group of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, which will accompany children and teenagers ( 7 – 11 years) in a journey which, starting from the exhibition, will guide them to discover Leonardo's drawing, painting, nature and science and to observe the works present in the museums of Milan and Lombardy.

The activities organized for the exhibition will be part of the Milanese network dedicated to the genius of Leonardo set up by the Municipality of Milan to suggest to visitors itineraries and connections with all the Milanese institutions involved in Leonardo's celebrations.

Reservations for guided tours are open.

Information and reservations: servizieducativi@museopoldipezzoli.it