The Pinacoteca Civica Ala Ponzone in Cremona has opened Tribute to Rembrandt: The Dutch in Cremona (Omaggio a Rembrandt gli Olandesi a Cremona), an exhibition exploring the historical and artistic links between the Lombard city and the Northern Netherlands.

The exhibition finds its roots in the deep commercial connections between Cremona and the Low Countries. As early as 1514, Giovan Carlo Affaitati, a member of the prominent Cremonese family that built the palazzo now housing the museum, managed his family’s bank branch in Antwerp. These mercantile ties in spices and diamonds eventually fostered an enduring artistic exchange.

The presentation highlights the divergence between the Italian tradition of monumental altarpieces and the Dutch preference for genre scenes, landscapes, and domestic interiors favored by the burgeoning merchant class. Central to this exploration is the work of Rembrandt, whose mastery of light and shadow created the intimate atmospheres that defined seventeenth-century Dutch painting.

Highlights from the Rijksmuseum and Private Collections

A centerpiece of the exhibition is Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Man in Oriental Costume, on loan from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This rare Italian appearance of the Leiden master’s work was made possible through a reciprocal loan of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s The Vegetable Gardener (also known as Scherzo di ortaggi) for the Metamorphosis exhibition currently on view in Amsterdam.

Complementing the Rembrandt portrait is a selection of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Dutch works from private collections, many of which have never been publicly exhibited. These include among others a Family Portrait by Jacob van Loo, Adriaen Isenbrandt’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine with Saint Agnes, and Jan van Goyen’s View of Rhenen. Also featured are a collaborative Still Life with Ham, Nautilus Cup, Diverse Tableware, a Plate of Oysters, and Fruit by Pieter de Ring and Willem Claesz. Heda, and a Portrait of an Old Man by Pieter Hermansz. Verelst.

Discoveries from the Museum’s Permanent Collection

The exhibition also serves as a platform to showcase the museum’s own significant holdings of Dutch and Flemish art, largely derived from the original bequest of Marquis Sigismondo Ala Ponzone and the 2003 Mana and Gianni Carutti bequest.

Several works have undergone recent research or restoration specifically for this event:

• Jan Brueghel the Elder: Flowers in a Vase has been re-evaluated and brought out from storage.
• Jan Provost: The Virgin and Child with a Donor has undergone a transformative cleaning. The treatment revealed a previously obscured kneeling donor, now visible in the original, vibrant colors of his costume.

Tribute to Rembrandt: The Dutch in Cremona offers a comprehensive immersion into Dutch life and artistry, from the sacred to the profane, as seen through the lens of one of Italy’s most dedicated collecting traditions.

The exhibition is curated by Mario Marubbi, Conservator of the Museo Civico Ala Ponzone.