Portrait of Pietro Avoledo (1935) by Augusto ColomboCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
The rich collection of portraits of the Ca 'Granda (over 900 works!) First of all it highlights the respect, the admiration and the esteem that the city has nurtured, since the Middle Ages, for "his" Hospital, which he supported financially, and with your involvement.
Portrait of Andrea Vergobbio (1855) by Baldassarre VerazziCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Hospital care has always been free for the needy, the collection also reveals the generosity of the Milanese who guaranteed to deliver it. "Spontaneous" generosity that the Hospital has rewarded since 1602, recalling the most generous benefactors in the portrait.
Portrait of San Carlo Borromeo (1600/1699) by Ottavio BizzozzeroCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
The famous characters who appear as real "testimonials" of the institution
Portrait of Giovan Battista Pirelli (1933) by Adelina ZandrinoCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
and for the members of important families appear in the Quadreria Ospedaliera seems an authentic "status symbol".
Portrait of Francesca Arena Petrolini Castelfranchi (1825/1826) by Giuseppe MazzolaCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Often the benefactor is depicted in the act of writing or showing his will.
The gesture offered an invitation to future testator generators, a not forgetting to mention, in their last wishes, the Hospital.
Portrait of Giuseppe Colli (1863) by Angelo InganniCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
To better solicit a conspicuous emulation, from 1810 minimum charitable thresholds are established for media rights to portraiture (40,000 Milanese liras for the half-figure size, and 80,000 for the full figure).
To give more evidence to the action of "fundraising", to underline the distinction that derives from it and to publicly gratify the financiers, from the early nineteenth century the portraits are described under the arcades of the Hospital on the occasion of the "Festa del Perdono ", The celebration of the ancient concession of the Indulgence in plenary granted by Pope Pius II in the year 1459, which is celebrated on March 25 of the odd years.
La folla ammira i ritratti dei benefattori esposti nel cortile maggiore della Ca’ Granda durante la Festa del Perdono (1913)Ca’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Portrait of Pietro Lattuada (1822) by Pelagio PalagiCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
The custom of joining a collection of portraits of benefactors immediately meets the favour of many welfare organisation and hospitals of Lombardy that imitate the enterprise of Ca' Granda.
Portrait of Savina Alfieri Nasoni (1899/1900) by Emilio LongoniCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
In some cases the same benefits that have given their support to the Maggiore Hospital are found in the collections of other Institutes.
Portrait of Carlo Sacco e Carolina Cerutti (1927/1928) by Felice CasoratiCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
The paintings are not received as a gift, but they are commissioned and paid for by the hospital: in a modern budget it would be costs noted in "exit" as "entertainment expenses", a sort of advertising investment. The importance of the collection does not therefore reside exclusively in the relevance of the artists and in the chronological breadth (400 years of history and history of Milanese art!), But also in the possibility of tracing back to precise information on their execution, based on documents , assignments of assignments, correspondence with the artists and families of benefactors, payments, all preserved in the Archive.
Carlo e Carolina Sacco Coniugi di Blevio (1890 circa)Ca’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Portrait of Chiara Boffi Pirogalli (1691) by Salomon AdlerCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
The Picture Gallery offers endless ideas for study and documentation.
Portrait of Maurilio Salvoni (1934) by Massimo CampigliCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
The excellence of the performer should be emphasised for some paintings
The Milanese schools
Some paintings are emblematic of anchor and schools of life in Milan, for example Scapigliatura,
Portrait of Odoardo Fano (1906) by Angelo MorbelliCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
...Divisionism,
Portrait of Carlo Casartelli (1931) by Esodo PratelliCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
... the "Italian Novecento"
Portrait of Giuseppina Canavesi Carenini (1932) by Francesco De RocchiCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
the Lombard Chiarismo.
Biographies
Other portraits are interesting due to the notoriety or biography of the effigies: nobles and patricians in the most remote centuries
Portrait of Davide Campari (1937) by Leonardo DudrevilleCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
captains of industry, entrepreneurs, professionals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Portrait of Elena Visconti Borromeo (1711) by Carlo FrasaCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Many depictions illustrate the history of fashion and costume.
Portrait of Anna Pasta Premoli (1941) by Marcello DudovichCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Allegory in memory of Angelo Boschetti (1881) by Giacomo MantegazzaCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
In cases the benefactor refused public gratification, preferring to be anonymous or it was impossible to have an iconographic documentation that allows the face reproduction, the Hospital has nevertheless remembered him with an allegorical picture, which maintains a testimony of the oblation.
The angel of succour. Allegory in memory of Clara Gola Dugnani Rogeri di Villanova (1905) by Pietro ChiesaCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Portrait of Ida Bianchi Sibilla Manzotti (1992) by Giancarlo VitaliCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Portrait of Arrigo Recordati (2004) by Alessandro PapettiCa’ Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
Even today, when the social welfare system guarantees the care of all citizens, the tradition of charitable donations continues, and the hospital's imprint continues to remember the benefactors with a commemorative portrait, which also stimulates future donations.
Event now rare since it is a public commission.
Donatella Zanacchi
Adriano Carnevali
