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Museo d'Arte e Scienza 

Formerly The Art Collector's Museum

 Gottfried Matthaes Foundation - Milan
 

with its extraordinary didactic collections for verifying authenticity, its exhibitions on Leonardo Da Vinci and its scientific laboratory
- a truly unique and fascinating museum

 

Over 2,000 items are on display in the Museum's 18 rooms covering the main sectors of antiques. Of particular interest are the two exhibitions on Leonardo Da Vinci, the prestigious collections of excavated pottery, Buddhist Art and African Art, and Interactive equipment at the disposal of visitors .


THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MUSEUM:

PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS ON LEONARDO DA VINCI
"Leonardo Citizen of Milan"
and "Appreciating Art through the Eyes of Leonardo" from his "Treatise on Painting"
www.leonardodavincimilano.com

DIDACTIC MUSEUM
for telling authentic items from fakes in the various fields of 
of art and antiques

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY:
scientific dating of wood and certifications. Open to visitors.

ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOKS
for ascertaining the authenticity of art and antiques
www.artandsciencehandbook.com

AFRICAN ART SECTION
permanent exhibition: "Life and Art in Black Africa" (more than 350 objects)
www.africanartauthenticity.com

 

Themes treated in the various rooms:
Rooms 1 and 2, Leonardo Citizen of Milan. Room 3, Scientific Laboratory. Room 4 offices and entrance. Room 7, Furniture. Room 7a, Carpets and Tapestries. Room 8a, Excavated Ceramics. Room 9, Paintings, Icons, Books, Art Prints, Ivory, Gemstones. Room 9, Porcelain, Glass, Dolls, Pipes, Walking Sticks, Clocks and Watches, Fabrics. Room 10, Silver and Bronzes. Rooms 11 and 12, Treatise on Painting. Room 13, Buddhist Art and specialized Exhibitions. Rooms 14-18, African Art.

Bonacossa Palace, site of the "Museo d'Arte e Scienza" 


some views of the rooms of the museum:

 

Rooms 1-2, first permanent exhibition: "Leonardo Da Vinci Citizen of Milan"

 

  

Themes treated in the room: Leonardo Da Vinci's activities in Milan, Leonardo expert of optics and perspective, Leonardo master of revels at the ducal court, Leonardo military engineer, Leonardo ingenious painter.

 

Room 2

  

Themes treated in the room: Chronology of Leonardo Da Vinci's activities in Milan, the characteristics of a genius, Leonardo sculptor, Leonardo expert of flight, Leonardo expert of inland waterways.

 

 
ROOM 2- Section dedicated to Mona Lisa

THE MONA LISA’S MYSTERIOUS SMILE
In 1950, for the fifth centenary of Leonardo’s birth, the Louvre Museum, owner of 7 of his 15 paintings, organized a study of his singular painting technique. The Milanese museum, by re-examinating this material, came to some interesting conclusions.


X-ray photographs normally heighten the contrasts between black and white, showing up the brushwork and the use of colours. This is exemplified by the X-ray of Rembrandt’s self-portrait. The X-ray photograph of the Mona Lisa, instead, offers only an evanescent image below the visible layer.

 

 

 

The mysterious allure of Leonardo’s portraits lies, therefore, in his invisible brushwork. Leonardo applied his colours in layers that were almost imperceptible, building up layer upon layer in order to achieve the desired effect in every point of his painting. With this technique the outlines of objects and details disappear.

  

A clear demonstration of the lack of outlines is given by this enlarged photograph of the Mona Lisa’s lips. The lips with the famous smile do not exist, they are only nuances of colour


The mystery of her smile, which has haunted generations of admirers, can be said to lie in the fact that it is not real. Its form and the emotion it elicits are a figment of the imagination of the observer.
 

The impossibility of copying Leonardo
A copyist, unable to copy this technique, can only reproduce the colours and outlines as they appear to him. The examples chosen here are the eyes and mouth of a well-executed recent copy compared with the same features of the Mona Lisa

Recent copy by F. Pari

Leonardo’s Mona Lisa

 

Rooms 11-12, second permanent exhibition: "Appreciating Art through the Eyes of Leonardo Da Vinci" from his Treatise on Painting

Themes treated in room 11: Sculpture and painting compared, the sculptor, faces, drapery,  bass-reliefs, light and shade in sculpture.

Themes treated in room 12: Painting, the painter, the art of copying, colour, light and shade in painting.

 

End of section dedicated to Leonardo

Rooms 7-10: Didactic sections of the Museum of Art and Science for the authenticity ascertainment in art and antiques

 

Room 7: Themes treated in the room: Furniture, sculptures, and wooden objects.

Room 7a: Themes treated in the room: Carpets and Tapestries.

Room 8: Themes treated in the room: Excavated pottery  from the Mediterranean and Bang Chiang.

 

 

 

Rooms 9-10              

     

Rooms 9-10: Themes treated in the rooms: Icons, paintings on panel and canvas, prints, ivory, amber, metals, silver, Sheffield, bronzes.

Every section has explanatory panels, written in three languages, which clearly describe the exhibited objects and the specific characteristics that the visitor must observe.

Interactive station: smelling test for identifying  material

All the treated themes are moreover largely described in the 3 volumes issued by the Museum: "The Art Collector's Illustrated Handbook", of which you may have all the information visiting www.ArtAndScienceHandbook.com

 

Room 13: Didactic section of the Museum of Art and Science dedicated to Oriental Art 

 

Themes treated in the room: Buddhist art of South-East Asia and minor Asian arts; stone, wood, bronze and ivory objects

 

Rooms 14-18: Didactic section of the Museum of Art and Science dedicated to African Art 

Permanent exhibition: "Life and Art in Black Africa" (5 rooms with more than 350 objects)

Themes treated in the rooms: The world of women, dance, fertility, kitchen utensils, Yoruba twins, the wooden couple of the Baulé, Dan masks, zoomorphic and multi-face masks, the cult of the dead, oracles, the world of men, instruments of power, musical instruments, coins, the warrior, contact and reciprocal influence between African art and the West.
 

For more info see also www.africanartauthenticity.com

Scientific laboratory

for the ascertainment of the authenticity of art objects (Room 3): 

wood dating - analyses on materials used in art - microscopy, reflectography, spectroscopy and Wood's light 

Laboratory open to visitors, analyses carried out for third parties. Further information on www.spectroscopyforart.com

 

Museo d'Arte e Scienza

G. MATTHAES FOUNDATION - AT THE SERVICE OF ART  

via Q. Sella,4 -20121 Milano-  Piazza Castello

Opening hours: Mon-Fri: 10-18.  Sat:10-14        Entrance: Euro 6 - reduced Euro 4

Guided tours: (min. 10 people) Euro 8 - Students Euro 5

For Information: Tel:+390272022488. Fax:+390272023156.  e-mail: info@museoartescienza.com

sponsorships granted for the two exhibitions on Leonardo Da Vinci

 

 

OTHER SITES OF THE MUSEUM OF ART AND SCIENCE: 

www.LeonardoDaVinciMilano.com - two permanent exhibitions: "Leonardo Citizen of Milan" and  "Appreciating Art through the Eyes of Leonardo" from his "Treatise on Painting". 

www.ArtAndScienceHandbook.com - The most complete and scientifically valid guide to ascertaining the authenticity of European and non-European antiques on an objective basis (540 pages and more than 2000 colour illustrations in 3 volumes and 3 languages)

www.Paintingsauthenticity.com - A list of possible methods for determining the authenticity of paintings based on objective factors.

www.AntiqueFurnitureAuthenticity.com - A list of possible methods for determining the authenticity of furniture based on objective factors.

www.AfricanArtAuthenticity.com - "Art and Life in Black Africa", The African Art didactic section of the Museum (5 rooms and over 350 objects)

www.SpectroscopyforArt.com - Scientific method for the dating of the wood and identification of the wood type used for art objects. Determination of their authenticity through analysis of colours, binders, pigments and other organic substances.

www.C14spectrodating.com - Spectroscopic measurements complementing dating obtained with the C14 method that appears uncertain or impossible.

www.DendroSpectroChronology.com - Spectroscopic measurements complementing the uncertain results of dendrochronological dating.

www.Matthaes.org  - The history of the G. Matthaes Foundation from the opening of the painting school in Dresden in 1906 up to the Museum "Arte e Scienza" in Milan.  

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