It is not easy to compete with a famous father who, thanks not only to his skill in painting but also to his entrepreneurial skills, had created a real commercial monopoly with his workshop. Anton Maria Piola, Domenico's eldest son, was not the natural heir of his father's family business who preferred his brother Paolo Gerolamo to run Casa Piola over him. Painter briefly liquidated by the biographer Ratti "... he learned painting from his father, and the style followed with excellent resemblance" [p. 49] certainly imitator of his father but so good as to be confused at first sight with him; only a careful reading allows to identify his own style, ce