Rotelli-Gastaldi Collection Dialogues with Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan

The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan, a historic house-museum preserving the collection of brothers Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi, hosts a temporary exhibition featuring works from the private collection of Giuseppe Rotelli and Gilda Gastaldi. Unlike the 15th- and 16th-century focus of the permanent collection, the Rotelli-Gastaldi collection specializes in 17th- and 18th-century Lombard and Venetian art. The exhibition creates a chronological dialogue across rooms, pairing Renaissance pieces with Baroque and Rococo works. Highlights include Giulio Cesare Procaccini, Giacomo Ceruti (Il Pitocchetto), Francesco Guardi, Giambattista Pittoni, Sebastiano Ricci, and lesser-known artists like Monsù Bernardo and Giovanni Battista Langetti. Gilda Gastaldi recounts that the collecting spark began with Giacomo Francesco Cipper's 'Merenda all'aperto di una coppia aristocratica' and Sebastiano Ricci's 'Riposo durante la fuga in Egitto.' The display is simple but clear: religious paintings in the fresco room, Langetti's 'Figura con sfera armillare' in the library, Ceruti's 'Mamma col bambino e la mucca' in the bedroom, and small animal-themed works in the bathroom. The exhibition invites reflection on the 'seduction of beauty' that drives collectors to auctions and patient pursuit of art.