ART

Twenty Renaissance masterpieces--all painted on wood--were damaged recently by a faulty climate control system at Milan’s Brera Museum--home to one of the most significant state-owned collections in Italy. In an announcement Monday, museum officials said that unseasonably dry weather, coupled with faulty humidifying and heating systems, caused the paintings--including 15th-Century artist Piero della Francesca’s masterpiece, “Madonna With Saints and Angels”--to crack and lose paint. Officials are investigating the causes of the malfunction.