Portrait of Ida Origgi

This is the third portrait executed to commemorate Ida Origgi (1874-1932), daughter of the owner of a small trattoria, but with a wealthy mother, and who can give herself a life sheltered from economic worries by complying with her passion for travel. Victim of a car accident on 1 January 1932, she was transported to the Maggiore Hospital where she died peacefully, after having cleared the driver and confirmed her testamentary dispositions, following which the Ospedale Maggiore inherited her wealth of 3 million of lire, with seven legates of 100,000 for other welfare institutions and numerous legacies for friends and relatives. The execution of the portrait is entrusted to three painters in succession: they do not satisfy the Artistic Commission nor the work of Aurelio Cartone (suggested by the benefactor herself) nor that of Cristoforo De Amicis; in the end, this rigorous and essential painting by Piero Marussig is convincing, influenced by the painting of Arturo Tosi, even with the obligation to retouch it. Both Marussig and De Amicis were inspired, in their composition and pose, by the portrait executed by Aurelio Cartone, who knew the deceased well. In a Milanese graphic exhibition of Marussig in 1986 a sketch in a preparatory pencil was exposed.