Portrait of Anna Pasta Premoli

Anna Pasta (1869-1938), born in Gallarate, penultimate of nine children, daughter and nephew of carpenters (her grandfather, a patriot, took refuge in Switzerland in 1848, after wounding an Austrian), educated and enterprising in business, was sent in Malta, from the English fashion company she worked for, to open a local branch. She marries Camillo Premoli, with whom she shares a passion for travel and music (he is an excellent violinist). Dying, being a widow and childless, she destined to the hospital the building in Corso Porta Ticinese 98, owned by her husband, sure to interpret her will. He receives the commission of the portrait Marcello Dudovich, who works there for almost three years thus justifying himself: "It is the result of many trials and a lot of doing and undoing and it has come to an almost billboard simplicity, which is probably what you expected from me". The Artistic commission invites the painter to modify the background, adding a tree-lined avenue. After several adjustments, finally in 1942 the painting enters the Hospital Collections. It belongs to the mature production of the famous liberty designer, with clear backgrounds and bold colors. The signage imprint, of which Dudovich himself is aware, is undoubted but from the composition he exudes a feeling of energy and vitalism that well reflects the modern and active personality of the benefactor.