Portrait of Teobaldo Visconti

The Marquis Teobaldo Visconti, an adventurous man of arms in the service of Spain, engaged in military campaigns for almost his entire life, twice wounded, knight of the Golden Fleece, in a will dated 10 April 1666 he nominated his male sons as heirs, though if without descendants they will have to transfer the inheritance to the male children of Galeazzo Visconti. If all this complicated succession had not occurred, the inheritance would have been due to the Ospedale Maggiore, which finally came into its possession in the year 1722. The portrait is attributed to Salomon Adler, although it is more likely that it is a copy of an original by the great painter from Gdansk, documented by a print by Cesare Fiori and by an engraving by Giovan Battista Bonacina: in fact, despite being of good quality, it lacks some stylistic features of the Prussian painter (to whom other portraits of the Quadreria are due), for example the extraordinary veiling of the colors inspired by the great master Rembrandt. There is no indication of payment to the artist in the hospital records and it is therefore probable that the painting was received in Ca 'Granda together with the inheritance. The portrait is sumptuous in its setting and in the representation of the Marquis, dressed in armor, next to the family coat of arms, while showing the collar of the golden Toson, moving it away from the bust with his left hand and holding the staff of the command.