Portrait of Giuseppina Canavesi Carenini

Giuseppina Carenini is not a benefactor of the Ospedale Maggiore. Owner of a steelworks with her husband Cesare Canavesi, in 1882 she adopted Angelo Sartorio, who had worked with them for years and had grown very fond of him. In his will, Sartorio benefits the Hospital with a legacy of 120,000 lire, requesting that, in addition to his portrait, the one of his adoptive mother would have also been commissioned. The portrait was entrusted to Francesco De Rocchi, who with Umberto Lilloni was part of the "Chiaristi Milanesi" group. This portrait is one of the first and significant examples of his chiarista paintings, with the classic use of pink and gray shades. Certainly it is not a picture that points to realism or a realistic and detailed environment, but the result, albeit in the abstract unreality of the face and in the asymmetric figure, is poetic and graceful.