Pinacoteca Ambrosiana

The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana is a museum in Milan located within the Palazzo dell'Ambrosiana.
History

It was founded by Federico Borromeo in 1618 within the Ambrosian Library, which had already been established in 1609. The institution was created to provide free cultural education to anyone with artistic or intellectual talent. From 1621, the Pinacoteca was accompanied by an academy of painting and sculpture, featuring plaster casts of Laocoön and Michelangelo Buonarroti’s Pietà, which came from the collection of Leone Leoni. The first painting instructor was Cerano, and the only noteworthy student was Daniele Crespi.

A "Second Ambrosian Academy," reformed with a classicist approach under the influence of painter Antonio Busca and sculptor Dionigi Bussola, was active from 1668 until the late 18th century. It was eventually closed, partly due to the establishment of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in 1776, which benefited from greater resources and professorships thanks to the patronage of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.