Cesare Ramelli (1812- 1893), Swiss by birth, a wealthy furniture merchant, appoints the Ospedale Maggiore as a living heir, asking for an annual annuity, which the Ca 'Granda supplies him for a short time, since the benefactor dies three years later. The commission of the portrait is entrusted to Virginio Ripari, who performs a very precise portrait in physiognomic features on a background deliberately left undefined.