Luigi Bisi (10 May 1814 – 11 November 1886) was an Italian architect and painter. He was the most notable member of an artistic family.

Life

Bisi was born in Milan on 10 May 1814, the son of the painter

Michele Bisi Michele Bisi (April 18, 1788 – December 26, 1874)Della Chiesa, Angela Ottino"Bisi, Michele" ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 10 (1968)''. was an Italian engraver and painter born in Genoa. His work is identified with the schools o ...

. He studied under his father and his uncle

Giuseppe Bisi Giuseppe Bisi (1787–1869) was an Italian painter, mainly of landscapes in a Romantic style. In 1829, he traveled to Rome, and painted landscapes in Lazio. He returned to Milan and in 1838, was named professor of landscape painter for th ...

, and then under

Francesco Durelli Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sever ...

at the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera ("academy of fine arts of Brera"), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca ...

. It is sometimes suggested that he also studied under

Giovanni Migliara Giovanni Migliara (October 15, 1785 in Alessandria – April 18, 1837 in Milan), was a nobleman and Italian painter active at the beginning of the 19th century, painting vedute and history paintings. Biography Born to artisan parents of limit ...

. Bisi succeeded Durelli as teacher of perspective at the Accademia, and taught there for more than 30 years. In 1879 he became president of that academy. He died in Milan on 11 November 1886.

Work

As a young man Bisi painted airy ''

vedute A ''veduta'' (Italian for "view"; plural ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''. Origins This genre ...

'', but most of his paintings are of interiors, mostly churches, and most particularly the

Duomo di Milano Milan Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Milano ; lmo, Domm de Milan ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary ( it, Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente, links=no), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombard ...

, which he claimed to have painted eighty-seven times. His interest in perspective led him to architecture. From 1857 he worked with Giovanni Brocca,

Friedrich von Schmidt Friedrich von Schmidt (October 22, 1825 – January 23, 1891) was an architect who worked in late 19th century Vienna. Life and career Von Schmidt was born in Frickenhofen, Gschwend, Württemberg, Germany. After studying at the technical hig ...

and Giuseppe Pestagalli on the long-drawn-out restoration of the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio. His plans for extensions to the

Palazzo dei Giureconsulti The Giureconsulti Palace (in Italian: Palazzo dei Giureconsulti), also known as Palazzo Affari ai Giureconsulti or simply Palazzo Affari, is a 16th-century building of Milan, Italy. It is located in Piazza Mercanti, former city centre in the Midd ...

were exhibited in 1877. Bisi designed the pedestal for the bronze copy

Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

's statue of ''

Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker ''Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker'' is a colossal heroic nude statue by the Italian artist Antonio Canova, of Napoleon I of France in the guise of the Roman god Mars. He holds a gilded Nike or Victory standing on an orb in his right hand and ...

'' which from 1859 stood in the main courtyard of

Palazzo Brera Palazzo Brera or Palazzo di Brera is a monumental palace in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It was a Jesuit college for two hundred years. It now houses several cultural institutions including the Accademia di Brera, the art academy of ...

, home of the

and the

Pinacoteca di Brera The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

. The base is in

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

, with bronze decorations, and was inaugurated in 1864. Among his pupils were

Leopoldo Burlando Leopoldo Burlando (1841–1915) was an Italian painter, mainly painting cityscapes and vedute. He was born in Milan, where he trained at the Brera Academy under professor Luigi Bisi. He is known for painting vedute of Venice and Milan, and also in ...

and Giovanni Pessina.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bisi, Luigi 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Architects from Milan Painters from Milan Brera Academy alumni Brera Academy faculty 1814 births 1886 deaths 19th-century Italian male artists