"Ala Ponzone" City Museum

Visit the 360° Photo Gallery

In the Palazzo Affaitati (16th Century) has its seat the pictures' gallery of the Civic Museum Ala Ponzone. Built century after century starting from the 16th Century, mainly with the collections of the Ponzone family it was definitely destined to the public use with the legacy left by the Marquess Giuseppe Sigismondo Ala Ponzone in 1842. Then, it was enriched with the works coming from some closed Cremona churches. The collection of paintings and sculptures is made up, today, of more than two thousand pieces, only partially exhibited in the rooms of the museum. The section dedicated to the Middle Ages and to the 15th Century, with sculptures, torn frescos, and a wide selection of works of Bembo family is hosted in the first room. The gallery of Cremona's paintings dating back to the 16th Century offers a complete anthology of the painters who testify with their work the passage from the 15th century tradition to the modern style (Boccaccino, Pedro Fernandez, Aleni e Galeazzo Campi) and the introduction of a new Renaissance spirit through the works of Camillo Boccaccino, Gian Francesco Bembo and Campi family, who anticipated the naturalistic sensibility which will be then interpreted by Caravaggio, now portrayed in the famous painting San Francesco in meditazione. The Room of San Domenico hosts a series of works coming form a demolished church and it demonstrates the Milan contributions in local culture of the 17th century (Cerano, Nuvolone, Procaccini). The following rooms are dedicated to Cremona's still life (in this room, moreover, is exhibited the famous painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldi "L'ortolano"), to the portrays of the Ponzone Family and to some examples of the painting of the 17th (Genovesino), 18th and 19th Century with the arrival of Neoclassicism (Diotti) and of Romanticism (Piccio). The last two rooms host a selection of applied arts (chinaware, potteries and majolica, ivory objects, enamels). At the second floor the visitor can find the seat of the section dedicated to Cremona iconography, with works related to the history of the town and to its painting representation. The next rooms of the floor offer a general overview on Lombardy and Cremona painting of the 19th Century (Gorra, Colombi Borde) and of the 20th Century (Vittori, Rizzi). At the third floor there is the Room of Drawings and Prints. This is the seat of the graphic collection of the museum's collection which is made up more or less of 2000 drawings and 4000 prints. The most important item of the collection are the Cremonese Papers of the 16th Century. The core of the prints' collection is represented by more or less two hundred samples dating back to the 15th and 16th Century.

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