Countess Torelli introducing her pupils to the Virgin

Countess Torelli
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about Countess TorelliCountess Torelli has just got up from the wheelchair, helped by a governess, in order to better show the woman the statue of the Virgin with Child, placed on the altar of the ancient chapel of Collegio della Guastalla consecrated to Santa Maria Della Natività.
The founder is recognizable not only for the physiognomy already shown in the first portraits, but also for the serious black dress and for the wheelchair, which reminds of her infirmity. The setting seems to be the one of the chapel that originally was situated in the first seat of Collegio in Milan, characterised by a marble altar with the statue of the Virgin in the middle and the Ex voto on the walls on the sides.

Collegio della Guastalla
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about Collegio GuastallaOn the right side of the painting four young female students, originally called figlioline, three of whom kneeling, are wearing the typical blue and white uniform of Collegio Della Guastalla, a symbolic reference to the purity and the yearning for heavenly things.
The scene portrayed may have taken place on the occasion of the solemn procession on the 8th of September. The date corresponded to the Nativity of the Virgin when the figlioline were accepted and introduced to Mary.
Near each pupil there is a governess who used to assist her formation, as prescribed by the statute. This woman had to wear a black dress and a white veil so as to cover her hair. At the foot of the altar on the right there is a basket containing needles and wool, a clear reference to the women’s work and art of embroidery.

Curiosity
The work is signed and dated by the painter Giovanni Pock, who was born in 1780 in Starno, in Bohemia. His first training took place in Trentino, where he specialized in portraiture. Later when he moved to Italy, he came to Milan in the twenties of the nineteenth century and he lived and worked here until the year of his death, which occurred in 1842.