Portrait of Vincenzo Tanfani

The engineer Vincenzo Tanfani (1863-1921), of a noble Anconetan family, graduated in Switzerland, gold medalist of the Lombard Institute of Sciences and Letters, member of the College of Engineers and Architects of Milan, ingenious industrialist, founded with a member of the "Ceretti e Tanfani" company, specialized in transport systems (funiculars, cranes, winches), also started the aeronautical industry in Italy. When he dies, at only 58 years old, he allocates his assets to two hospitals, that of his native Ancona and the Major of Milan, with usufruct in favor of his wife. The execution of the portrait is entrusted to Riccardo Galli, who declines the assignment due to the smallness of the expected compensation. The widow then proposed Adonis Comboni. The artist creates a painting that is one of the rare examples of large-scale portraiture of his production, which is usually expressed in more limited measurements and represents the subject in a static pose on a landscape background with muted colors.