He trained as a painter at the Accademia Ambrosiana in Milan, during the period of political turmoil before the French Revolution.

In 1790 he crossed the Alps to France, where he found a vibrant artistic scene enhanced by the political situation and the rediscovery of classical art, and in which foreigners were welcome.

François Gérard, who was also working in the studio at the time and was exempt from military service since he was a member of a revolutionary tribunal, made another copy of the same painting.

He continued to exhibit at the Salon every year until 1814, when he presented his most important work, Pirro after killing Priam takes Polixene to sacrifice at the tomb of Achilles.

Although the subject is unknown, the fashionably and expensively dressed young woman was probably painted for her future or present husband.

[1] Serangeli opened a studio in Paris in 1805, and taught some well-known students such as Claudio Linati, who was also a lithographer.

[1] The painting gives a somewhat romantic view of the historical event where the Treaties of Tilsit were signed, which was itself staged rather theatrically.

[9] After his return to Italy he made frescos from the legend of Cupid and Psyche to decorate the Villa Sommariva on Lake Como.