Researchers investigating retrospective tendencies in Catholic Church art paid special attention to the work of the Archbishop of Milan Charles Borromeo and the Instructions on church buildings and their furnishings, published in 1577 at his behest. The analysis presented in the paper has led to a conclusion that Borromeo and clerics in his circle did not treat the history of art as a process divided into periods, even though such a vision had been already current at that time. It turns out that they were eager to refer to medieval artworks, considering some of them to have been of ancient origin, or simply as models worthy of imitation, regardless of their date or derivation. Thus, Borromeo’s vision of the history of art was in agreement with the ancient and medieval understanding of history as a repository of exempla that could be chosen at one’s will, in order to be subsequently given to the contemporaries as models to emulate. As a result of the above attitude, chronological relationships between artworks became unimportant, and what counted was their practical usage and spiritual message they conveyed, which might be applied to catechetical purposes. An insightful reading of the Milanese Church legislation from the time of Borromeo’s pontificate, combined with an analysis of his patronage of the arts do not provide any arguments corroborating a thesis that the archbishop intended to integrate the examples he had indicated into any sort of a comprehensive system. Thus, neither the statements on sacred art by Borromeo and his collaborators, nor the archbishop’s undertakings in this field supply any evidence in favour of a contention that the styles employed in the construction and furnishing of churches in the post-Tridentine period were intended to be ‘carriers of meaning’. Still less, they justify a thesis that such a message could have been – according to Borromeo – based on a consistent imitation of a style characteristic of a given epoch in Church history and art.