The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana

A formerly private painting gallery in Milan, Italy

This small but worthy collection contains works by Da Vinci, Caravaggio, Titian, Botticelli, and Rubens, plus Raphael's preparatory "cartoon" sketch for the famed School of Athens fresco in the Vatican (proving that the central, brooding figure of Michelangelo was not part of the original plans, but rather was added later—supposedly after Raphael had a peek at the Sistine Chapel, being painted down the hall, and was so impressed he decided to include Michelangelo in his painted pantheon of great artists).

Building on the library founded by San Carlo Borromeo (of some 35,000 volumes and over 750,000 prints), another Borromeo, Cardinal Frederico, founded this painting gallery in 1603 after a formative time spent in Rome's artistic circles. It was (and is) a place in which to study a theological issues via academic tomes and works of art, a truly Renaissance mix of religion, intellectualism, and aesthetics. There are works by Titian, Botticelli, Caravaggio, and (possibly) Leonardo da Vinci.

There's also Raphael's cartoon for School of Athens. This was the preparatory drawing for Raphael's most famous fresco in the Vatican Palace, an anachronistic pantheon of the great Greek philosophers whose visages bear the portraits of Renaissance artists (Leonardo da Vinci is the bearded Plato in the center, the architect Bramante is balding Euclid bending over to explain some geometry, etc.).

Raphael's true strength was as a draughtsman—his painterly skills were largely cadged from teacher Perugino and elder contemporaries Leonardo and Michelangelo—and he often worked out fresco and tapestry scenes in minute detail first as a sketch.

Unfortunately, no one's thought to put a picture of the finished fresco nearby for comparison. If they had, you would see that, missing from this drawing is the famous brooding figure of Michelangelo sprawled on the steps in the final fresco. That's because it was not part of the original plans, but rather was added later—supposedly after Raphael had a peek at the Sistine Chapel, being painted down the hall.

Apparently, Raphael had not thought much of Michelangelo until then, dismissing him as a mere sculptor who sometimes dabbled in paints. After his sneak peek at the unfinished Sistine, however, Raphael was so impressed he hurried back to his own work and painted Michelangelo into his pantheon of great artists—placing him directly at center stage.

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