This volume documents, and portrays with wonderful photographs of the time, the difficulties encountered during the First and Second World Wars in saving the Brera's artistic heritage.
The ups and downs of the Pinacoteca di Brera during the First and Second World Wars have never been analyzed until today. To mark the gallery’s 200th anniversary, a photographic exhibition tells the story of those years, the most dramatic of its history, which also affected Milan’s foremost museums and galleries. During both wars, the body responsible for the gallery’s immense artistic heritage was the ‘Sovrintendenza alle Gallerie’ (Superintendency for Galleries), which mounted operations to safeguard its heritage. These involved not only the directors and staff of the galleries but also private citizens who, by participating in such operations, often put their personal safety at risk. Alongside the exhibition, film director Daniela Trastulli has made a video that illustrates various aspects of what was involved in safeguarding monuments and works of art during the two world wars.