19th century Eight views of Milan

early nineteenth century

Eight Views of Milan

(8) tempera on paper

(6) 16,5×21,56 cm – (1) 21,5×16 cm – (1) 17,5×24 cm

In these eight views, refined watercolour prints enclosed in elegant period frames, some of the most evocative glimpses of Napoleonic Milan and its surroundings are presented. The views represent respectively:

1. Porta Comasina, the current Porta Garibaldi, an obligatory passage point for the population of Como and Brianza on their way to Milan.

2. The Royal Villa of Milan, also known as Villa Belgioioso or Villa Belgioioso Bonaparte, built between 1790 and 1796 in Milan by the architect Leopoldo Pollack, commissioned by Count Ludovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso, advisor to the Austrian emperor, to retire there at the end of his diplomatic and military career. Upon the death of Count Ludovico Belgioioso, the villa was acquired by the government of the Cisalpine Republic, becoming the residence of Napoleon - who was occasionally hosted during visits to Milan - and of Eugene de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy in 1805, who lived there permanently together with his wife, Princess Augusta of Bavaria. The viceroyal couple commissioned the large decorative intervention that led to the sumptuous decoration of the interiors of the piano nobile, involving, among others, Andrea Appiani. With the return of the Austrian government to the city, the building became the property of the Austrian Viceroys, being inhabited among others by Marshal Josef Radetzky, who here stipulated the Peace of Milan of 1849 that decreed the surrender of the city to Austria. After the second war of independence it became the property of the Savoy Crown. In 1920 it was purchased by the Municipality of Milan which in 1921 established the Civic Gallery of Modern Art of Milan, of which it is still the seat today.

3. The civic arena of Milan, designed by the famous architect Luigi Canonica under commission of Napoleon in 1805: the area was designed to host parties, events and celebrations. The shape of the amphitheatre was chosen for the building, as a reference to the Roman imperial tradition, to which Napoleon explicitly referred. Canonica designed it taking inspiration from the Circus of Maxentius, located outside Rome on the Via Appia Antica, perhaps the best preserved of the ancient Roman circuses. The facility had an elliptical shape, with a total length of 238 metres and a width of 116 and could hold up to 30 spectators, or just under a quarter of the entire population of Milan at the time. The grandstand designed by Canonica is characterised by the presence of the Appiani building, which took its name from the author of the internal pictorial decoration, Andrea Appiani.

4.The triumphal entrance to the civic arena, with its classical forms.

5. Porta Nuova, one of the six main gates of Milan, built along the Spanish bastions, now demolished. Located to the north of the city in Piazzale Principessa Clotilde, it opens along the road to Monza. In this beautiful view the gate is presented as characterized by the neoclassical arch of Zanoia (1810-1813), erected in the Napoleonic era.

6.The columns of San Lorenzo are an ancient construction from the late Roman era in Milan located in front of the basilica of the same name near the medieval Porta Ticinese.

7. Porta Ticinese, called Porta Marengo in the Napoleonic era, located to the south of the city, opened along the road to Pavia. Since the nineteenth century, the gate has been characterized today by the presence of a neoclassical triumphal arch erected to a design by Cagnola.

8. The facade of the Certosa di Pavia: this extraordinary monument, built at the end of the XNUMXth century at the behest of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the first Duke of Milan, is the perfect synthesis of the trends of the Lombard architectural and sculptural tradition of the Renaissance.

The city of Milan and its surroundings do not enjoy great visual success compared to other Italian cities such as Florence, Rome or Venice: the first views of Milan were created between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: they are sketches that portray the most fascinating views of the city, placing particular emphasis on its religious buildings: just think of the views of the churches of San Lorenzo and San Babila by the anonymous Fabricsy and that of the church of San Paolo Converso by Marcantonio dal Re. Providing new life to the visual success of the views of Milan is the work of the well-known view painter Bernardo Bellotto, who depicts, in three excellent canvases, the Duomo and the Palazzo dei Giureconsulti, the square in front of the churches of Sant'Eufemia and San Paolo Converso and the Sforza Castle. The artists who served the Milanese power in the 19th century presented in their works the suggestive glimpses of the flourishing Milan, first Napoleonic and then Austrian: just think of the works of Migliara, Canella, Mazzola and Cherubin, in whose wake our views fit perfectly.

The object is in good condition