Tranquillo Cremona

Tranquillo Cremona learned to paint in Venice in the 1850s, at the Accademia di Belle Arti, under Ludovico Lipparini, a Romantic painter and portraitist. When Lipparini died in 1856, Cremona was barely out of his teens. The portrait of his old teacher now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia is his homage to the man who trained him.

Back in Milan, Cremona joined the Scapigliatura, a rebellious circle of poets, musicians and painters who set themselves against academic polish. His mature style went the whole way: outlines dissolve, faces and fabrics melt into a soft, flickering haze of colour, so his sitters look almost breathed onto the canvas rather than drawn.

He worked the paint with his hands, rubbing pigments straight into the surface, and it is widely believed the lead in those colours poisoned him. He died in Milan in 1878, only 41 years old.