Portrait of Giovanni Battista Birago

Giovanni Battista Birago (1738-1822), an Austrian army soldier, reaches the rank of Major (and in the painting he wears his uniform). In his will he establishes his wife Cristina Croce, providing for ample legacies for the Ospedale Maggiore. He had married to respect his brother's will, Msgr. Lancellotto Gaspare, in turn a benefactor of the hospital, who in 1794 forced him to marry a Milanese lady, within two years.