L'allegoria del Commercio dei Liguri in the Maggior Consiglio hall in Doge's Palace, Genoa.
Giuseppe (Tommaso Giuseppe) Isola (Genoa, April 7, 1808 – Genoa, July 21, 1893) was an Italianpainter.
Biography
He was the son of Gaetano Isola and Maria Annunziata Rolleri, during his youth he displayed his works in his father's furniture shop. His talent was noticed by marquessGiancarlo 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. In Liguria, Giuseppe focused on learning the fresco styles commonly used by artists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[1]
His artistic debut took place in 1834, when he presented his portrait titled La Congiura di Gian Luigi Fieschi in the Accademia Ligustica. Giuseppe also presented Il conte di Carmagnola condannato a morte dal Senato di Venezia si congeda dalla famiglia and l'Assassinio di Alessandro de' Medici in1836.[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.[1][4][2]
In the following years Isola worked under commission producing works such as the fresco of the allegory of Commercio dei Liguri for the rooftop of the hall of Maggior Consiglio in Palazzo Ducale, Genoa and il Trionfo della Scienza in Liguria on the roof of the main hall of the UniversitĂ di Genova, which was destroyed in World War II.[5][2][1]
Tasso alla tomba di Eleonora, Genoa, Palazzo PodestĂ
Tasso alla corte di Ferrara
Giotto bambino e Cimabue
Andrea Doria rifiuta la corona (a now destroyed decoration used on the curtaincall of the genoa teather Andrea Doria, the initial design is still conserved in the Galleria d'arte moderna in Genova-Nervi)[6]
