Family portrait

The exhibition offers an organic and new portrait of a Lombard artistic dynasty often neglected in 19th century historiography, the Bisi, active in the cultural context of Milan and Romantic Lombardy. Through more than sixty works from museums, public and private collections, the exhibition reconstructs the family relationships, commissions and influences of the relationships with leading figures of the Risorgimento and the artistic scene of the time, from Francis Hayez at Alessandro Manzoni, from Princess Cristina Belgiojoso a Massimo d'Azeglio.

The first core of the exhibition presents the Bisi family as a cohesive group of artists - painters, portrait painters, engravers - highlighting the central role of Ernesta Legnani Bisi and daughters Fulvia e Antoinetteand the innovative contribution in painting of landscapein perspective views and portraits. The following sections illustrate the cultural and social contexts in which they worked: the family's Milanese salon, the dialogue with Risorgimento patriotism, the dialogue with aristocratic and intellectual patrons, and finally the stylistic evolution within the Lombard and Italian panorama during the century.

Particular emphasis is given to Giuseppe Bisi and grandson Luigi BisiThey were also protagonists in the academic world: the former with his professorship of landscape painting at Brera, the latter with his teaching of perspective, and through their architectural and interior views. The catalogue and exhibition itinerary also restore artistic tensions, stages of patronage and personal relationships with protagonists of their time, restoring to the public not only the canvases, but a network of cultural and emotional influences.
The route invites the visitor to reflect on theart as an expression of social, cultural and family ties, on the evolution of painting techniques in 19th century Lombardy and the sensibilities that guided the choices of patrons and artists at a time of great change.