Museo Civico Ala Ponzone

The exhibition opens with the section dedicated to the Middle Ages and the 15th century, which gathers sculptures, torn frescoes, ceiling panels and a wide selection of works related to the Bembo workshop.

Immediately afterwards, the 16th-century Cremonese painting offers a comprehensive anthology of the artists who marked the transition from the late Gothic tradition to the “modern manner”. Through the masterpieces of Camillo Boccaccino, Gian Francesco Bembo and Campi, we witness the affirmation of the new Renaissance sensibility and the naturalism that would anticipate the revolution of Caravaggio, masterfully represented here by the famous St Francis in meditation. Next, the San Domenico Hall houses works from the demolished church of the Preaching Friars, bearing witness to the Milanese influence (Cerano, Nuvolone, Procaccini) on local culture in the 17th century.

The following rooms celebrate the famous Cremonese still life, portraits from the Ponzone collection and the pictorial evolution between the 17th and 19th centuries: from the 17th century with Genovesino to the rise of Neoclassicism with Diotti and Romanticism with Piccio.

The journey through time ends with the last rooms, which house a fine selection of applied arts (Oriental porcelain, Lombard and European majolica, ivories and enamels), a section dedicated to the history and iconography of Cremona and, finally, an overview of Lombard and local painting between the the second half of the 19th century and the 20th century.