Francesco Filippini

Francesco Filippini came from a poor family in Brescia, in Lombardy, the son of a carpenter, and worked his way through the drawing school of the local Tosio gallery and then the Brera Academy in Milan. He made his living largely by teaching.

He began with religious and historical subjects but found his real voice outdoors, painting the landscapes of the Lombard hills and Alpine valleys and the harbours of Chioggia, Genoa, and Venice, in a loose, light-touched manner shaped by the Milanese painter Tranquillo Cremona. He died in Milan in 1895, only 41 years old, and is remembered mainly around his native Brescia.