Portrait of Carlo Dell'Acqua

This is the preparatory sketch, made in pastel by the painter Giuseppe Molteni, of the portrait of Carlo Dell'Acqua, one of the most brilliant doctors of Ca 'Granda in the early nineteenth century, where he was a disciple and friend of Giovanni Rasori. In 1846, he left the hospital about three thousand volumes of medicine and the sum of 50,000 lire, with the obligation to increase collections and to establish an annual prize for publications by young practicing doctors. A monument, made by the sculptor Alessandro Puttinati (1801-1872), only the marble bust of which remains today, honored his memory. The painting recognizes the portrait of Johann Peter Frank, health care reformer in Austrian Lombardy, and some volumes from the library. During Milan's Romantic period, Molteni creates works for a prestigious clientele with Hayez and Palagi: he paints the famous portrait of Alessandro Manzoni (1835), the portraits of Gioacchino Rossini, of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and, in Vienna, of Metternich. The hospital collections contain portraits of Giacomo Mellerio (1848) and Giulio Litta (1845).