Galleria Canesso Milano

The Galerie Canesso Paris is opening a new branch at 24 via Borgonuovo, Milan. The gallery space is surrounded by greenery, in the former greenhouse of the garden of Casa Valerio, a historic palazzo of Milan located just behind the Brera Gallery. Art lovers, curators and collectors will be able to discover for themselves the latest pictures the Galleria Canesso Milano has to offer.

For Maurizio Canesso, Milan is one of the most dynamic European cities, truly combining the thirst for innovation with a passion for art-historical traditions. Returning here is also a way for him to revisit his Lombard roots. It was in Milan, when he was twenty, that he bought his first painting, a Christ and the Samaritan Woman by Francesco Cairo. “I have a vivid memory of this first purchase. Thanks to this painting and the curiosity it sparked in me, I studied all the relevant books and then had occasion to meet art historians of the calibre of Giovanni Testori. Subsequently I sold the picture to a prominent Lombard scholar, who became my first client. That was the turning-point, marking the start of my career as an art dealer. Of the many works I’ve had in my gallery, those by Lombard painters have always been intensely studied and championed.”

The Galleria Canesso Milano launched its inaugural exhibition with two works by Antonio Campi (Cremona 1522/23 - 1587), well known to scholars but never exhibited in public, an Agony in the Garden and a Christ before Caiaphas. These two extraordinary nocturnes with scenes from the Passion are superb examples of experimentation with light that is typical of Lombard Mannerism. It was this type of painting that made Campi the favourite artist of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo (1538-1584) and a direct precedent for Caravaggio (1571-1610).