THE TUPINAMBA’ CLOAK | MUSEOSEGRETO 2019

From February 26 2019, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana enhances its exhibition tour with an antique work of extraordinary workmanship.
It is a rare and precious ritual Tupinambá cloak, made by a Brazilian indigenous population that inhabited the Atlantic coastal strip between the mouth of the Amazon and the state of São Paulo.

The cloak, dating back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries, already in the Ambrosiana collections, has recently returned to its original splendor, thanks to the restoration carried out under the direction of Laura Paola Gnaccolini of the Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Milan, offered by INTESA SANPAOLO as part of the Restituzioni 2018 program.
Made by binding feathers predominantly of Ibis rubra on a cotton net, it arrived in Ambrosiana thanks to the legacy of the collection of the famous naturalist Manfredo Settala (Milan, 1600-1680), which in turn had received it as a gift from Prince Federico Landi, a leading figure in the political scene between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, linked to Emperor Philip III of Spain.
The work is part of the MuseoCity – Museosegreto 2019, the event promoted by the City of Milan that opens to the Milanese and to foreign visitors the beauty and richness of Milan’s artistic and historical collections, involving over 80 venues including art museums, house-museums, artist’s studios and business museums and transforming the city into a large, widespread museum with extraordinary openings, exhibitions, workshops for children and special initiatives.
For the occasion, on March 1-2-3, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana will be open to the public at the special price of € 10.00 full and € 7.00 reduced.