The wonderful world of nature between art and science: on display at Milan's Royal Palace

The Sala delle Cariatidi in Milan ’s Palazzo Reale will host the exhibition The Wonderful World of Nature from March 13 to July 14, 2019. A Fable Between Art, Myth and Science: visitors will be able to admire the Orpheus Cycle, a unique jewel of seventeenth-century art recreated in its original form and sequence. Indeed, the fulcrum of the exhibition is the reconstruction, in the Sala delle Cariatidi, of one of the most unique figurative complexes of the 17th century in Italy: the Orpheus Cycle, commissioned by Alessandro Visconti for his own palace in Milan in the 1770s.
The cycle, which is part of the Civic Collections of the City of Milan, consists of 23 canvases, some of considerable size, depicting more than 200 different life-size animals chasing each other across a fluid landscape, accompanied by very few human figures, including a spellbinding Orpheus and a small Bacchus. A fantastic landscape, surprising in animals of all species, common and exotic, and fantastic figurations.
A unicum in Italian figurative production, both in size and in the quantity of animal and plant species depicted.
The Orpheus Cycle will be able to be admired in the Sala delle Cariatidi in 360 degrees according to the ancient arrangement and the likely original sequence with which it was to be presented when it was made for Palazzo Visconti.

A spectacular staging in this prestigious room of the Royal Palace, extended to the adjacent rooms, with exceptional loans, from Caravaggio ’s Canestra di frutta (Basket of Fruit ) to Giovanni Ambrogio Figino’s Metal Plate with Peaches. All told to the public thanks to an original exhibition project, the result of the City of Milan’s ability to “make a system” among the city’s different cultural institutions.

The exhibition is organized on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death and investigates how the representation of nature in Lombardy changed also thanks to the artist’s stays in Milan. The works of art on display will dialogue with naturalistic exhibits.
Visitors will be able to admire more than 160 specimens of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and invertebrates from the Natural History Museum and Aquarium in Milan and the MUSE in Trento.

A prologue will introduce visitors to a famous late Gothic Lombard codex, theHistoria plantarum from the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome, filled with hundreds of illustrations from the world of plants and animals. by two Lombard painters.
Before entering the reconstructed hall of Palazzo Verri, visitors will find on display the works taken as reference for the setting, from the Gallery of Modern Art, the Archbishopric, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and private collectors.
At the entrance to the exhibition, walking through a “forest” of illuminated letters, the viewer will hear sounds and echoes of real nature. The exhibition is accompanied by multimedia content and evocative video projections will accompany him along the entire route.

“We want to raise awareness and promote the knowledge of this jewel of Italian painting as much as possible. It is in fact an absolute rarity - along with the Sala delle Asse - in terms of size and subject matter, which deserves international recognition and protection commensurate with its value,” says Culture Councillor Filippo Del Corno.

The exhibition is curated by Giovanni Agosti and Jacopo Stoppa, with set designs by Margherita Palli, and is promoted by Comune di Milano - Cultura, Palazzo Reale and 24 Ore Cultura.

For info: www.palazzorealemilano.it

Hours: Monday from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Tickets: Full 14 euros, reduced 12 euros, children 6 to 14 years old 6 euros.

Image: Cycle of Orpheus (detail), Milan, Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco. © Municipality of Milan-All rights reserved

The wonderful world of nature between art and science: on display at Milan's Royal Palace

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