Portrait of Lola (Rosa) Peduzzi Binda

Lola (Rosa) Peduzzi Binda (1895-1932) does not directly benefit the Ospedale Maggiore. Her father Battista is the owner of marble and granite quarries on Lake Maggiore and belongs to a renowned family of Milanese builders; she marries Cesare Binda, from whom she has two daughters. He died at the age of 36. The mother, Teresa Bonomi, desperate, donates 100,000 lire to the Ospedale Maggiore in her memory for the construction of the new Niguarda Hospital, in which she asks for a room to be named after her daughter. Teresa Bonomi will then donate a large agricultural property to Nibbiola (Novara) to the Ospedale Maggiore in 1946, asking for the commemorative portrait also for the other son, Pietro, and for her husband Battista. The portrait of Lola Peduzzi is given to Salvatore Corvaya, to whom the Artistic Commission requests various modifications. Indeed it is perhaps one of the least happy works of this artist preserved in the hospital picture gallery and presents anatomical disproportions. The depiction of the face is better. The lack of detectable accuracy compared to his other works can be justified by the speed of execution: the painter completes the painting in a very short time (less than three months), urged to deliver from the imminence of the Festa del Perdono.