Pinacoteca di Brera

History of the museum

Napoleon, who was ruling northern Italy, founded the Brera gallery in 1809 as a place where students at the art academy could study great paintings, many of them taken from churches that had been closed. The palace was built in the 1600s by the Jesuits. Its best known painting for visitors is Hayez's The Kiss, bought for the museum in the 1860s.

Top pieces

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  The Kiss Francesco Hayez, 1859
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  Lamentation over the Dead Christ Andrea Mantegna, 1480

In our gallery from here (21)

Lamentation of ChristAndrea Mantegna · 1483 The Marriage of the VirginRaphael · 1504 The KissFrancesco Hayez · 1859 Madonna and Child with Saints, Angels and Federico da Montefeltro (San Bernardino Altarpiece)Piero della Francesca · 1472 Saint Mark Preaching in AlexandriaGiovanni Bellini · 1500 Finding of the body of St MarkJacopo Tintoretto · 1562 Christ at the ColumnDonato Bramante · 1487 Madonna with the ChildGiovanni Bellini · 1460 Madonna of the CherubimAndrea Mantegna · 1485 Madonna of the Rose GardenBernardino Luini · 1510 Santa Maria in Porto AltarpieceErcole de' Roberti · 1479 Portrait of Laura da PolaLorenzo Lotto · 1543 CrucifixionBramantino · 1600 Adoration of the MagiStefano da Verona · 1434 Adoration of the MagiAntonio da Correggio · 1515 Portrait of Febo da BresciaLorenzo Lotto · 1543 The Feast in the House of Simon the PhariseePaolo Veronese · 1570 Abraham Casting Out Hagar and IshmaelGuercino · 1657 Madonna della CandelettaCarlo Crivelli · 1490 Portrait of Moise KieslingAmedeo Modigliani · 1915 The Madonna of Carmel and the Souls of the PurgatoryGiovanni Battista Tiepolo · 1724