Paintings Collection
A few exceptions aside, the Bagatti Valsecchi collection of paintings is made up of 15th-16th century panel paintings that principally are from Tuscany, Lombardy and – though fewer – the area around Venice. The sumptuous domestic set up of the rooms flanks great artists’ works, of which the most notable is without a doubt Giovanni Bellini’s St. Justine. Works also are by minor masters, sometimes from provincial places such as around Como Lake or the valleys around Bergamo. The Neo-Renaissance frames harmonize the works with the rooms, and transform panels from dismembered polyptychs – a frequent category of object in the collection – into paintings that can stand alone, fading away their identity as panels once part of larger articulated pieces.
St. Justine, ca. 1470
St. Justine, ca. 1470, Giovanni Bellini (Venice, ca. 1430 – 1516), tempera on panel, 129 x 55 cm, inv. 986, Red Room
St. Francis, 1507
St. Francis, 1507, Bernardo Zenale (Treviglio, ca. 1460 – Milan, 1526), tempera and oil and panel, 99 x 31.2 cm, inv. 987, Red Room
Madonna and Christ Child
Madonna and Christ Child with two music-making angels, God the Father and cherubs, end of the 16th century, Giovanni Ambrogio Bevilacqua (Milan, 1460 – ca. 1516), tempera on panel, gold- and silver-thread embroidery, stones, enamels, gilded glass, velvet, gilded mail, 150 cm high, 93 cm wide, inv. 908, Bevilacqua Room
St. John the Baptist, 1507
St. John the Baptist, 1507, Bernardo Zenale (Treviglio, ca. 1460 – Milan 1526), tempera and oil on panel, 99 x 31.2 cm, inv. 988, Red Room
Christ in Majesty
Christ in Majesty, St. John the Baptist, St. Mary Magdalen, the Madonna and Christ Child, St. Martha, St. George, ca. 1535-1540, Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, known as Giampietrino (documented in Milan from 1508; died in 1533), oil on panel, Christ in Majesty, 95 cm high, 92 cm wide. Polyptych: 180 cm. high, 350 cm wide, inv. 1011 and 1010, Room of the Valtellinese Bed