Luigi Bisi Biography
Luigi Bisi (Milan, 10 May 1814 – Milan, 11 September 1886) was an Italian painter. Luigi Bisi was one of the best-known exponents of a dynasty of artists, originally from Genoa and who moved to Milan in the early nineteenth century: in fact, both his father Michele and his uncles Giuseppe and Ernesta Legnani with their daughters were painters. . Luigi's son, the sculptor Emilio (1850-1920), also dedicated himself to art, after his initial studies in mathematics. Thus initiated into painting by his family environment, he entered the Brera Academy at a very young age in 1825, continuing under the guidance of Gaetano Durelli. Already in 1831 he took part in the annual Braidense exhibition, of which he was a frequent exhibitor for over fifty years. Dedicating himself to perspective painting already begun by Giovanni Migliara, he specialized in architectural and interior views of monumental buildings and churches with good success among the Milanese bourgeoisie and aristocracy. Unlike Migliara, who painted fictional architecture and interiors, Bisi fully adheres to the monument with results of faithful documentary punctuality. In 1838 he began painting the interior of the Milan Cathedral commissioned by Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria for his coronation as king of Lombardy-Veneto. The work was finished two years later and remained on display in Vienna in the Belvedere Gallery until, after the fall of the Habsburg monarchy, it was sold at auction in 1929 (today it is part of the collection of a Milanese bank). In 1842 he collaborated with engravings on the new edition of I promessi sposi. He was a member of the Ornament Commission between 1837 and 1858, and in 1851 he succeeded Francesco Durelli as the chair of Perspective at the Brera Academy, a position he would hold until his death. In 1880 he was appointed President of the Academy itself, dedicating himself to the arrangement of the paintings in its art gallery.
