Portrait of Mario Pasini

Mario Pasini (1892-1919), does not directly benefit the Ospedale Maggiore. A law graduate from Pavia, he volunteered in World War I as an ambulance driver and fought for three years in the Carso. The mother joins him to be close to him as a Lady of the Red Cross. Strongly weakened by his stay in the area of ​​operations, the young lieutenant, just twenty-seven, dies after an illness. A few months later his father, Erasmo Pasini, also died. The mother and widow in 1933 drew up a will in which she allocated 500,000 lire to the hospital to erect a pavilion in memory of her husband and 100,000 to remember her son. The hospital assigns the execution of the portrait of the young officer to Alessandro Gallotti, indicated by the family and who had a reputation as a good painter of scenes of military life. The Artistic Commission, when the framework is completed, requires numerous substantial modifications, but the painter protests: Antonio, Mario's brother, did not provide him with adequate iconographic material and therefore, he justifies himself "I had to work with imagination". He is then given a photo and Gallotti even proceeds with the execution of a second portrait, in which is perceived Cesate Tallone influence.