MELONE, Altobello

The early decades of the sixteenth century in Cremona were some of the most turbulent in its political history. In these years of constantly changing foreign rulers, the local leaders of Cremona pursued an elaborate project of decoration with remarkable consistency. From 1506 to 1522 the community had the chancel and nave of the twelve-century cathedral frescoed. By continuing the decoration through all the changes in government, the community represented its own identity; it was an act of local self-assertion.

The decoration was begun in the semi-dome vault of the apse in 1506. Boccaccio Boccaccino depicted, following a time-honoured scheme, the Epiphany of God in the Last Days (Christ in Majesty) as the principal and culminating image within the church space. Later, in 1514 Boccaccino received the commission to begin a fresco cycle of the life of Mary and Christ on the walls of the nave. They begin on the left wall, running from the fa�ade to the apse and then on the right wall from the apse back to the fa�ade. The left wall is dedicated to Mary and Christ’s childhood; the right to the Passion.

Boccaccino painted the scenes above the first four arches of the nave, and Giovan Francesco Bembo had been active above the fifth arch. He was not awarded another commission, the fresco cycle was continued by the Cremonese artist Altobello Melone. His contract regarding the frescoes above the next arch stipulated that his works should surpass in beauty Boccaccino’s frescoes of the first two arches, which had been unveiled in 1515. Melone painted the Flight to Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocents with a wealth of motifs and drastic narrative. The protagonists have left the ideal, solemnly harmonious sphere of joyful childhood that Boccaccino’s style suitably mirrors and have entered into a dramatic world depicted in Melone’s coarser style.

Melone continued the cycle on the right wall, he painted five scenes of the Passion above the three arches next to the apse.

View all images of the fresco decoration in Cremona Cathedral by various artists.

The early decades of the sixteenth century in Cremona were some of the most turbulent in its political history. In these years of constantly changing foreign rulers, the local leaders of Cremona pursued an elaborate project of decoration with remarkable consistency. From 1506 to 1522 the community had the chancel and nave of the twelve-century cathedral frescoed. By continuing the decoration through all the changes in government, the community represented its own identity; it was an act of local self-assertion.

The decoration was begun in the semi-dome vault of the apse in 1506. Boccaccio Boccaccino depicted, following a time-honoured scheme, the Epiphany of God in the Last Days (Christ in Majesty) as the principal and culminating image within the church space. Later, in 1514 Boccaccino received the commission to begin a fresco cycle of the life of Mary and Christ on the walls of the nave. They begin on the left wall, running from the fa�ade to the apse and then on the right wall from the apse back to the fa�ade. The left wall is dedicated to Mary and Christ’s childhood; the right to the Passion.

Boccaccino painted the scenes above the first four arches of the nave, and Giovan Francesco Bembo had been active above the fifth arch. He was not awarded another commission, the fresco cycle was continued by the Cremonese artist Altobello Melone. His contract regarding the frescoes above the next arch stipulated that his works should surpass in beauty Boccaccino’s frescoes of the first two arches, which had been unveiled in 1515. Melone painted the Flight to Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocents with a wealth of motifs and drastic narrative. The protagonists have left the ideal, solemnly harmonious sphere of joyful childhood that Boccaccino’s style suitably mirrors and have entered into a dramatic world depicted in Melone’s coarser style.

Melone continued the cycle on the right wall, he painted five scenes of the Passion above the three arches next to the apse.

View all images of the fresco decoration in Cremona Cathedral by various artists.

Formerly this portrait was attributed to Boltraffio, then to Bartolomeo Veneto. It is assumed that the represented woman is Alda Gambara, a poet, however, an alternative identification, namely a member of the Avogadro family, is also proposed. In the background the fortress of Brescia is depicted.

This panel was part of a large altar-piece, probably made for a church in Cremona in the early 1520s, of which the centre panel with The Virgin and Child and the predella with scenes from the life of St Helena are known.

Altobello Melone, although Cremonese, looks forward in his enhanced naturalism to the School of Bologna in his Tobias and the Angel. A dishevelled, sleepy-eyed angel leads diminutive Tobias, with his small fish, by the hand.