Portraits of Inequalities Pittura di classe

Milan holds a singular collection—remarkable in its scope—comprising more than 900 portraits of the benefactors of Ca’ Granda, the city’s principal hospital, founded in 1456. The collection began to take shape in the late sixteenth century and is still expanding today. Its homogeneity offers a unique opportunity to examine how the privileged classes have been portrayed over the centuries. This installation was made possible through an agreement with the Fondazione Policlinico, which has actively promoted this cultural heritage over the years, including the establishment of a dedicated museum that opened in 2019. On view are thirty portraits of men and women, created between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, which recall the historic 1981 exhibition at Palazzo Reale, La Ca’ Granda: Cinque secoli di storia e d’arte dell’Ospedale Maggiore di Milano (The Ca’ Granda: Five Centuries of History and Art at Milan’s Ospedale Maggiore), curated by Giovanni Testori. This time, the collection of notable figures is observed from a different perspective—that of a representative of another social class, portrayed by Giacomo Ceruti, the painter often referred to as the “Homer of the poor.”