Cultural Travels from Home: Michelangelo in Milan

Thursday 18th March 11.00AM

In this series of online webinars we visit artists, art historians and guides in cultural cities around the world and enjoy an hour’s guided tour, virtual museum visit or demonstration. The visits are live and interactive, allowing you to ask questions. These webinars will enable you to gain special access to sites, studios and galleries which are either currently closed or difficult to visit whilst at the same time providing a wonderful opportunity to travel virtually from home, no matter your location. Our visits will also support galleries and individuals working in the cultural sector whose activities have been affected by the pandemic.

Today we enjoy a live, virtual guided tour of the Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle) in Milan in the company of expert curator Dr Antonio Mazzotta. The castle will be opened especially for our group, even if it is still closed in March. This will be the first ever virtual tour of this kind in the castle and we are most grateful to the museum authorities and Dr Mazzotta for allowing us special exclusive access, despite the current Italian lockdown regulations. All bookings will include a donation / "virtual entrance ticket" which will help support the museum during its closure.

Milan: The Castello Sforzesco and Michelangelo’s Last Work

The Castello Sforzesco is one of the most iconic monuments of Milan, symbolising the power of the Visconti and Sforza dynasties who ruled the city state in the 14th and 15th centuries. In its later history the building suffered much damage but thanks to the efforts of architect Luca Beltrami and his restoration project, begun in 1893, it still stands today. The building now contains several important museums displaying collections which belong to the city of Milan. One of the most important works is Michelangelo’s Pietà Rondanini (named after its one-time home, the Palazzo Rondanini in Rome). The scupture of Mary mourning the Dead Christ is widely acknowledged as the artist’s final masterpiece. Michelangelo worked on it up until the very end of his life. It was discovered unfinished in his studio after his death in 1464. Our guided tour will begin with in the central courtyard where Dr Mazzotta will describe the history of the castle and its architecture, followed by an in-depth discussion of Michelangelo's Pietà

Dr Antonio Mazzotta studied Art History at the University of Milan and at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. He is currently lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Milan. Dr Mazzotta worked as Curatorial Assistant at the National Gallery in 2008-2010, where he curated the exhibition Titian’s First Masterpiece: The Flight Into Egypt (2012). In 2018-2019 he curated an exhibition at the Castello Sforzesco (Milan) exploring the origins of the iconography of Michelangelo's Pietà (Vesperbild: Alle origini delle Pietà di Michelangelo). His main research topics are Venetian and Lombard art of the Renaissance, and the history of collecting

This is a live webinar starting at 11.00am GMT and will last approximately one hour including Q&A .  Tune in from anywhere in the world to participate or enjoy a recorded version if you cannot watch live. For those who are unable to participate live, you will automatically be sent a recording soon after the end of the session enabling you to watch on catch up later that evening or the following day. Please note, the recording is only available to those who have not been able to participate live. Please refer to the Further Information panel below.

Bookings close the day before the lecture is streamed.

Art History in Focus is proud to have initiated the concept of online tours in a number of major Italian museums and historic sites in Venice, Assisi, Perugia and Milan. We are delighted to have developed these collaborations which continue to raise important funds for the galleries and cultural sites as well as those working in the cultural sector.

 

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