Luigi Bisi (10 May 1814 – 11 November 1886) was an Italian architect and painter.[1] He was the most notable member of an artistic family.

Luigi Bisi
Sermon in the Duomo di Milano (1837)
Born10 May 1814
Died11 November 1886
Milan
NationalityLombard, Italian
Known forpainting, architecture
Piazza San Marco, Milan (1835)

Life

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He was born in Milan on 10 May 1814, the son of the painter Michele Bisi. He studied under his father and his uncle Giuseppe Bisi, and then under Francesco Durelli [fr] at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera.[1] It is sometimes suggested that he also studied under Giovanni Migliara.[1][2]

Bisi succeeded Durelli as teacher of perspective at the Accademia, and taught there for more than 30 years.[3] In 1879 he became president of that academy.[1]

He died in Milan on 11 November 1886.[1]

Work

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As a young man Bisi painted airy vedute, but most of his paintings are of interiors, principally churches, and most particularly the Duomo di Milano, which he claimed to have painted eighty-seven times.[1]

His interest in perspective led him to architecture. From 1857 he worked with Giovanni Brocca (1803–1876), Friedrich von Schmidt and Giuseppe Pestagalli [it] on the long-drawn-out restoration of the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio. His plans for extensions to the Palazzo dei Giureconsulti were exhibited in 1877.[1]

Bisi designed the pedestal for the bronze copy of Antonio Canova's statue of Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker which from 1859 stood in the main courtyard of Palazzo Brera, home of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera and the Pinacoteca di Brera. The base is in granite and Carrara marble, with bronze decorations, and was inaugurated in 1864.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Angela Ottino Della Chiesa (1968) Bisi, Luigi (in Italian). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, volume 10. Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed September 2015.
  2. ^ Bisi, Luigi (in Italian). Enciclopedie on line. Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed September 2015.
  3. ^ B. Kendell (Gaja) (February 1901). Emilio Bisi and His Work. The Artist: An Illustrated Monthly Record of Arts, Crafts and Industries (American Edition) 30 (253): 11–15. doi:10.2307/25581600 (subscription required)
  4. ^ Francesco Berlucchi (26 October 2013). L'incredibile storia della statua di Napoleone a Brera (in Italian). La Stampa, Milan: "Voci di Milano". Accessed September 2015.

Further reading

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  • F. Sebregondi, Necrologia. Commemorazioni dei soci onorari, dettate dal segretario F. Sebregondi: Luigi Bisi, Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan (1887) Online
  • Elena Lissoni, Luigi Bisi, Online @ ArtGate, Fondazione Cariplo, 2015
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