Museo Diocesano Carlo Maria Martini

La permanent collection count over a thousand works from From the 20th to the 21st century, arising from the interweaving of bequests, deposits and donations. The exhibition offers two perspectives: on the one hand, it bears witness to the richness of the Ambrosian artistic output, whilst on the other hand it illustrates the evolution of the collecting, and archiepiscopal which private.

A first settlement brings together masterpieces linked to the local area and the worship of Saint Ambrose. Paintings and sculptures from the diocesan churches trace the evolution of the Lombard painting from the 15th to the 19th century, through masters such as the Bergognone, Marco d'Oggiono e Francis Hayez. Alongside these are the historic collections of the Archbishops of Milan — amongst whom the cardinals stand out Monti e Pozzobonelli — and a large section devoted to the’Jewellery.

The passion of the private collecting has further enriched the museum’s collection with some very significant donations:

• The Crespi Collection: fine paintings at gold ground from the 14th and 15th centuries, mainly of Tuscan school.
• Marcenaro Collection (on deposit from the Cariplo Foundation): sculptures made mainly of wood, dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries.
• The Sozzani Collection and the Schubert Bequest: a fine selection of drawings from the 15th to the 20th century.

The following complete the itinerary recent acquisitions as the The Ascent to Calvary by Gaetano Previati and the extraordinary 18th-century paper nativity scene painted by Francesco Londonio (57 silhouettes). The’contemporary art Finally, it finds a place around the White Way of the Cross (1955) by Lucio Fontana, the core of a section devoted to the The 20th and 21st centuries.