In this painting, the four-year-old brother is portrayed, presented in the company of a large dog and in the act of holding up a sheet of paper with words inspired by paternal affection (Father who in forming me took part, take me hor reformed by art).

Third son of Count Niccolò who had to prefer him, Sigismondo was undoubtedly the most brilliant of the Ponzone brothers: passionate about music, versed in fencing, he married a Gonzaga and, on the premature death of his second-born brother Federico, inherited the title of count and the heritage of the Ponzoni . At the beginning of the eighteenth century, through the marriage of Sigismondo's daughter, Beatrice, to Giovan Francesco Ala, the Ponzone counts merge with the Ala marquises, who obtain the double surname and add the title of counts to their own.