The Fondation Etrillard is sponsoring the exhibition ‘The Seduction of Colour. Andrea Solario and the Renaissance between Italy and France’ at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan.
Running from 26 March to 30 June 2025, this exhibition offers visitors the chance to rediscover the genius of Lombard Renaissance master Andrea Solario (1465-1524), on the 500th anniversary of his death. The Poldi Pezzoli Museum will host exceptional works from prestigious international collections, with scientific collaboration from the Louvre Museum.
Andrea Solario, ‘Rest on the Flight into Egypt’, 1515, Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli (detail)
The exhibition brings together for the first time a selection of around 36 works from prestigious collections in Italy, France and England.
These masterpieces reveal the technical mastery and stylistic evolution of an artist influenced by great masters such as Giovanni Bellini, Antonello da Messina and Leonardo da Vinci.
Andrea Solario, ‘Portrait of Charles d'Amboise, Marshal of France, Governor of Milan in 1500 and protector of painters’, circa 1510-1511, Paris, Louvre Museum, © GrandPalaisRmn (Louvre Museum) / Franck Raux (detail)
This project highlights the importance of colour in Solario's art and reveals how his style was influenced by French-Italian cultural interaction.
The Museo Poldi Pezzoli has conducted extensive scientific analyses to gain a better understanding of the master's pigments, materials and techniques. The paintings were subjected to X-rays, reflectography and infrared analysis, revealing previously unknown details. These studies were compared with those carried out by the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France, offering new interpretations of the artist's use of chiaroscuro and enamelled colours.
At the same time, six works were restored: five in Milan, including the Portrait of a Lady at the Castello Sforzesco, and one at the Louvre, where the Madonna with the Green Cushion has been restored to its original luminosity.
Find out more: exhibition website.
Andrea Solario, ‘Madonna Nursing the Child (Madonna with the Green Cushion)’, circa 1510, Paris, Louvre Museum © GrandPalaisRmn (Louvre Museum) / Michel Urtado (detail)
The Museo Poldi Pezzoli, opened in 1881, was the home of Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli (1822-1879), a passionate collector of paintings, sculptures, carpets, lace, weapons and armour, and jewellery. An extraordinary collection enriched over time by important acquisitions and donations.
The museum houses masterpieces by Pollaiuolo, Mantegna, Botticelli, Raphael, Piero della Francesca, Tiepolo, Canaletto and Hayez. It also has amazing collections of Murano glass, porcelain, sundials and clocks.
The Poldi Pezzoli Museum is thus one of the most renowned house museums, firmly rooted in the cultural landscape of Milan.
Stucchi room, Museo Poldi Pezzoli