Giuseppe Isola

His talent was noticed by marquess Giancarlo Serra, who became his patreon and allowed him to study painting in the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti and afterwards to travel Tuscany, Latium and Lombardy to improve his skills.

[1] His artistic debut took place in 1834, when he presented his portrait titled La Congiura di Gian Luigi Fieschi in the Accademia Ligustica.

[2] Maria Drago wrote a letter in 1838 to her son Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian national activist, noting how Isola was arrested and questioned in regards to his painting La morte di Opizzino d'Alzate, 1837, as the faces of the conjurants depicted in the work were similar to several patriots from Genoa.

[3][4] Starting from 1841 Isola created some works commissioned by the Savoia family, such as the paintings Alcuni drappelli de' dragoni del re sbaragliano i Francesi sotto Mondovì and La strage degli innocenti which he made in Turin, where he was nominated as honorary historical painter at the court of Charles Albert of Sardinia, as well as several frescos in the halls of Palazzo Reale in Genoa.

[5][2][1] As an acknowledgment of his works Isola became an honorary professor in the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti in 1845, where he taught painting courses (from 1848 to 1851), nudes (from 1851 to 1871) and realism (from 1872).