The collection, which includes works by leading exponents of 19th-century Italian painting such as the famous Portrait of Giovanni Fattori in his studio by Giovanni Boldini and Federico Zandomeneghi’s charming Singing lesson, also charts the artistic genres of 19th-century Lombardy and Naples in great depth.

Porta Tosa, Milan by Carlo Canella typifies historical painting inspired by the Risorgimento, while images of Milan throughout the century (particularly the Duomo and the Navigli canals) and the Naturalism of landscape and genre painting are represented in works by Angelo Inganni, Domenico and Gerolamo Induno, Filippo Carcano, Carlo and Giuseppe Canella, Carlo Bossoli, Luigi Premazzi, Arturo Ferrari and Emilio Gola.

Special mention must go to two important works by Giovanni Segantini, The gathering of silkworm cocoons and The choir of the Church of Sant’Antonio in Milan.

There is a rich and exhaustive repertoire of the famous landscape schools of Posillipo and Resina born at the height of the 19th century in Naples, with paintings by Anton Sminck Pitloo, Giacinto Gigante, Gabriele Smargiassi, Salvatore Fergola, Nicola Palizzi, Domenico Morelli, Lord Mancini and Vincenzo Migliaro. Another great protagonist of the collection is the sculptor Vincenzo Gemito, represented with a group of drawings, terracottas and bronzes of the finest quality.