Giuseppe Isola Biography
Giuseppe Isola (1808 - 1893) was an Italian artist trained at the Ligustica Academy of Fine Arts in Genoa, under the guidance of Giuseppe Frascheri, Felice Vinelli and Michele Cerreti, director of the School of Painting. Belonging to a noble family from Genoa, Isola benefited from the protection of the Marquis Giancarlo Serra, who allowed him to perfect his painting in Florence and Rome. A great enthusiast of the ancient masters, he studied the great Tuscan, Lombard and Lazio artists. In Liguria, however, he dedicated himself to the study of fresco mural painting by the decorators of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The painting that marked Isola's public debut was "The Fieschi Conspiracy", exhibited in 1834 at the Academy. This work represents a milestone in the history of Ligurian art, as it is considered the first historical painting produced in Liguria with a certain romantic tendency. Since 1850, the artist participated in the exhibitions of the Società Promotrice di Belle Arti, becoming part of important cultural circles.
Isola's career was crowned with important recognitions: in 1841 he was appointed honorary historical painter of the Royal Court of Carlo Alberto, in 1845 Academician of Merit of Ligustica, in 1848 director of the elementary academic school of drawing and in 1851 director of the academic school of drawing from relief and the nude. In 1871 he led the academic school of life studies as director and was a member of the Accademia di S. Luca in Rome, family painter of the Duchess of Galliera and first director of the Galleries of the Rosso and Bianco palaces. Furthermore, he was president of the Fine Arts Section of the Ligurian Society of Homeland History.
