Bagatti Valsecchi Museum Collection

Paintings Collection
A few exceptions aside, the Bagatti Valsecchi collection of paintings is made up of 15^th-16^th 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.

Sculptures Collection
Reliefs inserted into the courtyard’s walls or, as fixed furnishings, into the walls of the home’s rooms make up the most important nucleus of the sculpture collection. Notwithstanding the small number of works, pieces that are problematical, both from the attribution and chronological points-of-view, are not missing. In addition, whether the brothers understood that some of the pieces were from the 19^th, and not the 15^th and 16^th centuries, is still to be understood, for example, in the case of the Flagellation by Alceo Dossena located in the study.

Furnishings
The rich collection of furnishings is a fundamental part of the collecting and life-style project of the Bagatti Valsecchi home. The brothers had no compunction about flanking their 15^th and 16^th century pieces with heavily restored pieces, or even 19^th century pieces in the Renaissance style, since their goal was to create an ambiance in which the total effect was more important and convincing than the originality of its single pieces.

Arms and Armours
This rich collection is entirely displayed in the Gallery of Arms, a room of great impact, in which the objects are placed on antique chests, while the pole arms and swords are noteworthy in the racks along the walls. “In style” and original objects flank each other, creating a great scenographic impact.