The Civic Museum is one of the oldest museums in Veneto, established in 1828 following the bequest of the naturalist Giambattista Brocchi. It is composed of a Museum, Library, and Archive and found its current location in 1840 in the former convent of the Church of San Francesco. In this building, the archaeological collection (4,465 pieces), numismatic collection (8,453 pieces), paintings in the art gallery (728 pieces), graphic collection (19,488 pieces), and the Canova legacy (1,815 pieces excluding the epistolary) are still preserved.
As early as 1831, a first group of paintings was already placed in the rooms adjacent to the San Francesco cloister, to which in 1840 were added some paintings from the Council Hall of the Town Hall, then collections of natural history and books donated by the naturalist Giovan Battista Brocchi.
Over time, the entire heritage has exceptionally grown so that today it is possible to admire and study only a part of it, set up in the archaeological sections (findings from the Paleovenetian, Magna Graecian, Roman, and medieval ages), in the art gallery (paintings from the 13th to the 20th century), and in the cloister (a lapidary of cippi, coats of arms, inscriptions, tombstones, and architectural fragments dating back to the 13th century).
The art gallery in particular has over 500 paintings, including the largest collection of works by Jacopo da Ponte in the world and rich documentation of his workshop’s activity. The Canova section gathers over two thousand autograph drawings, the letters, the library, the sketches, numerous plasters, and the precious series of monochromes, the only evidence of this production.
Thanks to Brocchi’s legacy, the Civic Library opened to the public in 1943, later enriched by other important donations: the collection of Bassano pamphlets by Giambattista Roberti, the collection of autographs by Bartolomeo Gamba, the letters, sketchbooks, and engraving volumes of Antonio Canova, part of the library and correspondence of the Remondini printers. The Municipal Archive with documents from 1211 to 1950 is also preserved at the same institution.
Information on Bassano del Grappa Civic Museum
Piazza Garibaldi, 34
36061 Bassano del Grappa (Vicenza)
0424519901
info@museobassano.it
https://www.comune.bassano.vi.it
Source: MIBACT
