Milanese Baroque refers to the dominant artistic style between the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century in the city. Due to the work of the Borromeo cardinals and its importance in the Italian domains, at first Spanish and then Austrian, Milan experienced a lively artistic season in which it assumed the role of the driving force behind Lombard Baroque.

The Milanese Baroque period can be divided into three parts: the early 17th century, the second 17th century and the 18th century. The first 17th century began with the appointment of Federico Borromeo as bishop of Milan in 1595 in continuity with the work of his cousin Charles: in this first phase the main exponents of Milanese painting were a trio, Giovan Battista Crespi, known as Cerano, Giulio Cesare Procaccini and Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, known as Morazzone. In this first phase, the evolution of the new Baroque style followed with continuity the late Mannerist art that was widespread in Milan at the time of Charles Borromeo; in fact, the formation of the three painters took place on the models of Tuscan and Roman late Mannerism for Cerano and Morazzone, while Procaccini was formed on Emilian models. From an architectural point of view, religious commissions dominated the scene, as the Spanish rule was more concerned with works of military rather than civil utility; many pre-existing churches were completely rebuilt and decorated in a Baroque style, and just as many were built from scratch: while the Baroque style was introduced in Milan by Lorenzo Binago, there were two other main architects who shared the scene at the time, namely Fabio Mangone, with his more classical lines and for this reason often chosen for commissions by Federico Borromeo, and Francesco Maria Richini known simply as il Richini, with his lines more inspired by the early Roman Baroque. Beyond this dualism, Richini represents the leading figure of architect in 17th-century Milan, and to find such a prestigious figure in Milanese architecture one would have to wait until the advent of Giuseppe Piermarini.

The second phase of the Baroque, which began approximately after the early 1730s, started after a brief interlude filled with significant events: firstly, the main interpreters of the movement died between 1625 (Giulio Cesare Procaccini) and 1632 (Cerano), to which was added the death of Cardinal Federico Borromeo, one of the major figures of 17th century Lombardy, and above all the Great Plague of Milan, which halved the city's population, killing among the thousands of victims the promising young Milanese painter Daniele Crespi, which among other things led to the closure of the Accademia Ambrosiana, founded in 1621 by Federico Borromeo to train young artists for the Milanese school, where he hired the greatest interpreters of the early Baroque, above all Cerano and Fabio Mangone, as teachers.

Painting in the second half of the 17th century was thus completely renovated in its interpreters, with the work of the brothers Giuseppe and Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, Francesco Cairo, Giovan Battista Discepoli and others; a fundamental role was played both by the Accademia Ambrosiana, which gave a certain continuity of style and then reopened a few years later, and by the work of artists from the rest of Italy from the Emilian, Genoese and Venetian schools. Architecture, with the death of Fabio Magone, saw the work of Francesco Richini, who remained almost unrivalled in his Milanese production, joined by minor interpreters such as Gerolamo Quadrio and Carlo Buzzi. Thanks to the latter, the achievements of this period made a complete break with Mannerist influences, moving towards a markedly Baroque approach, with influences from the Emilian, Genoese and Roman schools. The last quarter of the century saw the opening of the second Accademia Ambrosiana, reopened in 1669 under the direction of Antonio Busca, a pupil of Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, and Dionigi Bussola, who together with the newly founded Accademia Milanese di San Luca, linked to the Roman academy of the same name, contributed to the return of a classicist current linked to the Bolognese and Roman schools.

The 18th century represents the last Baroque phase; the style did not blossom openly into Rococo due to the normative action of the Milanese College of Engineers-Architects and there was a change of trend: religious commissions no longer played the main role in Milan's artistic scene, but gave way to the ville di delizia in the Milanese countryside and the return of the large private urban building sites: the liveliness of the construction sites led to a greater number of outstanding performers, including Giovanni Battista Quadrio, Carlo Federico Pietrasanta, Bartolomeo Bolla, Carlo Giuseppe Merlo and Francesco Croce, to which was added the Roman Giovanni Ruggeri, who was very active throughout Lombardy. In painting, the works of Giambattista Tiepolo stand out for history painting and Alessandro Magnasco for genre painting, both of whom were not from Lombardy: this phase marked a change in the preferences of patrons, who preferred artists from a non-Lombard school, above all the Veneto school, considered more prestigious at the time. In the late 18th century there was a period in which the lines of the Baroque were mitigated by the impending neoclassicism, until the Milanese Baroque season came to an end with the painter Francesco Londonio, at whose death in 1783 the city of Milan was already in the midst of the Age of Enlightenment, in the height of the Neoclassical season.

The first part of the 17th century represents the transitional period between Mannerism and the first stages of the Baroque, although there is no lack of already mature examples of Baroque style at the time. For this particular period, in which the legacy of Charles Borromeo was still strong and in which the interests of the Spanish government focused more on military and strategic aspects, religious art and architecture led the transition to the new Baroque style.

Federico Borromeo was one of the main promoters of Lombard culture and art in the years of his cardinalate: the cardinal's Roman education had a great influence on this, during which he came into contact with the best artists of the time, becoming a passionate art lover and collector. From his interest arose the idea of creating a cultural centre for the city to train artists and men of letters according to the canons of the Counter-Reformation, to whom paintings and texts would be made available, as well as teachers, in order to promote art and culture within the city.

Work on the complex began in 1603: after purchasing and demolishing a residential building in the area of Piazza San Sepolcro, the plans for the Palazzo dell'Ambrosiana were assigned to the architect Lelio Buzzi, who started work the same year; the work, which lasted among various modifications until 1630, passed to Alessandro Tesauro and finally to Fabio Mangone. The façade was completed in 1609: the entrance towards the centre consists of a vestibule divided by three bays of Doric pilasters that end on the architrave, in which the inscription BIBLIOTHECA AMBROGIANA is engraved; the Borromeo coat of arms is sculpted on a triangular tympanum that crowns the vestibule. Many of Borromeo's contemporaries commented positively on the classical solution of the structure, which was even defined ‘a temple of the muses’ by the theologian Luigi Rossi, praised for the ‘Roman-style vestibule’ and the ‘ancient-style architraved peristyle’ by Ambrogio Mazenta or compared to the architecture of imperial Rome for its ‘solidity and majesty’ by Girolamo Borsieri.