Portrait of Francesco Polli

Francesco Polli (1855-1905) is not a direct benefactor of the Ospedale Maggiore. The widow Ermelinda Rosti (1861-1931) assigns a legacy of 50,000 in memory of her husband to the hospital. Francesco Polli, a graduate in pharmacy in Pavia, replaces his father Emilio in running the Polli al Carrobbio pharmacy, where he also produces magnesia in the laboratory. President of the Lombard Chemical Pharmaceutical Association and advisor to the Pharmacists Mutual Aid Society, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 50. The widow takes over the reins of the pharmacy, hoping for the help of her two sons, Ercole and Giovanni, both of whom die of tuberculosis at the age of 30. At the time of the donation, Ermelinda Rosti also sent to the Ca 'Granda a "family" portrait of her husband, the work of her brother-in-law Donato Bassani, an amateur painter, but who knew, albeit in the modesty of execution, to vividly represent the face of the benefactor . The hospital houses the painting in the hospital collections, but does not exhibit it in the Festa del Perdono because it is of a different format from that traditionally used in half-figure portraits. The portrait of the benefactor is commissioned to Eugenio Marana.