Lost places and still intact city sites, figures of kings or saints who shaped an era and created a tradition are present in the city’s civil and religious imaginary.
In addition to the epic life of Queen Theodolinda, celebrated in the nearby cathedral in the splendid late Gothic frescoes by the Zavattari, among the works of the many artists who have contributed to shaping this imaginary world, the Musei Civici could not fail to include those of the painters belonging to the well-known Bianchi Family: Mosè, his brother Gerardo and his father Giosuè.
These works are complemented by other paintings from the 19th century, perhaps the period that most strongly characterised the pictorial (not to say ‘picturesque’) image of the city.
Vivid views of the Contrada Nuova and the apse of the Duomo stand alongside images of the lost city represented by the remains of the Visconti Castle and the Porta di San Biagio, monuments that have disappeared.
Finally, the two patron saints of the city, St John the Baptist and St Gerardo, are given the task of closing the itinerary, ideally linking up with the sacred stories of the Segrè collection, from which the exhibition route on the first floor began.
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- riproduzione di disegni del comune di Monza
01: Lombard painter, The Visconti Castle in Monza. Oil on canvas, late 18th – early 19th century
02: Angelo Inganni, View of the Contrada Nuova in Monza. Oil on canvas, 1850
03: Mosè Bianchi, In the Cathedral of Monza. Oil on canvas, 1872
04: Pier Paolo Quaglia, Processional banner. Embroidery and painting on satin, 1630
05: Lombard painter, Devotion of St. Gerard. Oil on canvas, late 17th century