Description
The Francesco Gonzaga Diocesan Museum keeps the art treasures of Mantua's churches in the former convent of Sant'Agnese, around a medieval cloister. It is named after the Franciscan friar Francesco Gonzaga, bishop of Mantua from 1593 to 1620.
The most surprising room is the one with the armor: 15th- and 16th-century breastplates offered as votive gifts after the Battle of Fornovo in 1495. In the Treasury gleam the Gonzaga goldsmiths' works, Islamic ivory caskets and the Missal of Barbara of Brandenburg, a precious illuminated book.
Among the paintings are a sinopia attributed to Mantegna, early frescoes by Correggio and a room devoted to Giuseppe Bazzani. There are also Flemish tapestries from the early 16th century and those of the Cathedral, woven in Paris between 1594 and 1598.
The most surprising room is the one with the armor: 15th- and 16th-century breastplates offered as votive gifts after the Battle of Fornovo in 1495. In the Treasury gleam the Gonzaga goldsmiths' works, Islamic ivory caskets and the Missal of Barbara of Brandenburg, a precious illuminated book.
Among the paintings are a sinopia attributed to Mantegna, early frescoes by Correggio and a room devoted to Giuseppe Bazzani. There are also Flemish tapestries from the early 16th century and those of the Cathedral, woven in Paris between 1594 and 1598.