Portrait of Angelo Sartorio Carenini

Angelo Sartorio Carenini (1860-1931), orphan at the age of six, first worked at a religious goods company, then as a representative of a Belgian company in the same sector, later he became a representative of the Carenini Steelworks, whose owners, Cesare Canavesi and Giuseppina Carenini became very fond of him, to the point that in 1882 Giuseppina became his adoptive mother. At her death he inherited company and assets. Once retired, he devoted himself to painting and to the study of astronomy. In his will he appoints the bishop of Como, Monsignor Paolo Martinelli, his friend and spiritual advisor, assigning his assets to charity. The Ospedale Maggiore receives a sum of 120,000 lire, with the request to honor with a portrait not only the benefactor, but also the mother. The portrait commission of Sartorio is entrusted to Amerigo Canegrati, an artist known in the thirties. He reconstructs an almost metaphysical environment in the painting, and paints with a technique that recalls the fresco, placing a carved female face in the background, recalling the style of Domenico Rambelli and other sculptors of his circle.