Portrait of Sofia Gervasini

This is the second portrait of Sofia Gervasini executed by Umberto Lilloni. The benefactor, still alive in 1911, had donated three Milanese houses of her own property, worth about 400,000 lire, to the Ospedale Maggiore, asking for a modest annual income for herself. Before she died, in 1931, she annulled the will in favor of the hospital, assigning heir the Congregation of Charity (now ASP Golgi-Redaelli), disappointed that in all those years the Ca 'Granda had not provided to adjust the annuity and to commission the portrait on its own initiative. Although belatedly, Umberto Lilloni, founder of the "Chiaristi Milanese", who has a young photo of the benefactor during a holiday in Liguria, between Lavagna and Sestri Levante, is entrusted with the task. The painting, criticized by the family and by the executor who in a letter defines it as "not decent for the deceased", despite the adjustments made by the artist according to the indications given by the relatives, is rejected by the Hospital Council because "in contrast to the special needs to be met by the collection of portraits of benefactors, in which the modern school is most widely represented ". Lilloni then declares himself willing to perform this second portrait "according to his first manner" (influenced by "Novecento"). Using the same iconographic source as the first, it represents the benefactor with a more youthful appearance and a sweet face, setting the composition still outdoors, but replacing the green hills dotted with houses with a wide view of the gulf and the beach, in a triumph of shades of blue. The work, which is influenced by the French post-impressionists, especially by Henry Rousseau, has no better luck than the previous one and is relegated to the deposits with the indication "not to be exhibited". For the peace of relatives, a third portrait was commissioned in 1942 from the Quadreria Ospedaliera to Giulio Cisari. Another portrait of Sofia Gervasini, commissioned by the Congregation of Charity to Umberto Lilloni, is located in the ASP Golgi-Radaelli Quadreria.