11 June 2016

Antonio Cifrondi – painter

Artist who has preserved images of everyday life for us



Cifrondi's painting of An Old Woman with
a Stick can be seen at the Civic Museum
 of Art and History in Brescia
Baroque artist Antonio Cifrondi was born on this day in 1655 in Clusone, just north of Bergamo, in Lombardy.

He is known for his religious works and his genre paintings of old men and women and of people at work, in which he depicts their clothing in great detail. 

Some of his work is on display in the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo. A self-portrait can be seen in the church of Sant' Alessandro della Croce in Via Pignolo in Bergamo.

Cifrondi was born into a poor family in Clusone, the main town in Val Seriana to the north east of Bergamo.

After training as a painter locally he moved to Bologna, and then to Turin and to Rome, where he stayed for about five years. He also worked briefly at the Palace of Versailles near Paris.

He came back to live in the Bergamo area in the 1680s, after which he painted many of his major works. He lived for the last years of his life in a convent near Brescia, the city where he died in 1730.

Travel tip:

Bergamo in Lombardy is a beautiful city with an upper and lower town that are separated by impressive fortifications. The magical upper town has gems of medieval and Renaissance architecture surrounded by the impressive 16th century walls, which were built by the Venetians who ruled at the time. Outside the walls, the lower town has art galleries, churches and theatres and a wealth of good restaurants and smart shops to enjoy. For more information visit www.bestofbergamo.com

The Accademia Carrara in Bergamo has a number of
paintings by the artist Antonio Cifrondi
Travel tip:

One of the biggest jewels in Bergamo’s crown, the prestigious art gallery Accademia Carrara, was reopened to the public in 2015 after having had extensive renovation work. It is the only museum in Italy to be entirely stocked with donations and bequests from private collectors and has many works by Venetian and Lombardian Renaissance artists. The gallery is located in Piazza Giacomo Carrara just outside the walls of the upper town, a short walk from Porta Sant’Agostino. For more information visit www.lacarrara.it

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