A noble peasant?
The story of this painting can be described as both sad and bizarre at the same time. This painting depicts Antonio (Anna's grandfather), and the question that arises spontaneously to anyone who sees it is: "How was it possible for a simple peasant to be portrayed as a nobleman?"
The following story is the lengthy answer: It is very difficult to define an exact year, but it is presumed to be around 1890.
Great-grandmother Anna Maria and great-grandfather Antonio had gone to the nearby town of Pallanza to take part in the city market with their cart pulled by mules, where they would sell part of the harvest and cheeses made from their cows and goats.
Once they had set up their table with the displayed products, it was time to start selling, unaware of what would happen shortly thereafter. At a certain point of the day, a beautiful, attractive woman in high bourgeois attire approached the counter and made a request that left the merchant couple stunned.
The beautiful lady came from a noble family in Milan and was vacationing in Pallanza with her three children: two beautiful boys and a girl, whom she did not recognize as her daughter because she considered her too ugly to be her own creation. For this reason, upon seeing the equally unattractive merchant Anna Maria, she came up with the idea of asking her to take care of her "ugly child" Caterina until she became an adult, with the promise that she would never set foot in her Milanese family again, so as not to spoil its image.
Initially reluctant to this proposal, moved by compassion for the little Caterina, the couple decided to accept it, but without any monthly compensation, apart from providing for the child's expenses.
Years passed, and Caterina made great strides thanks to her incredible intelligence, even opening her own watch component factory that gave work to al lot of local women.
Seeing the success that the "ugly daughter" had achieved, the beautiful Milanese family decided to re-establish ties with both her and Antonio's family, who had raised her. In return for the generosity and kindness of these peasants, the Milanese family decided to buy an elegant dress for great-
grandfather Antonio, instructing him to wear it so that he could be portrayed as a nobleman.
Once completed, the portrait was left in the attic of Cà Zanengius by Antonio, who considered it excessive and arrogant towards the other peasant families in the neighborhood, only to be rediscovered by Anna many years after Antonio's death, who decided to hang it in the hallway
halfway up the stairs, where it can still be found.
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