Pige Francesco

He studied painting in Munich from 1842 to 1845. Then he stayed in Rome for three years, more than likely completing his artistic education there, and afterward settled in Greece.

He was primarily involved with portraiture, working in the islands, since a large part of his work consisted of the portraits of members of well-known naval families who were very active during the years of the Greek War of Independence and exercised considerable authority at the time. On a more limited scale, he was also involved with landscape. Despite this painter’s characteristic rendering of his figures, which seem formal and stiff in their grand interiors, next to open windows with a view of well-known archaeological sites, islands and cities, many of his works were originally attributed to the painter Andreas Kriezis. His identity became known when, in the portrait of the Hydriot Stamatis Voudouris the inscription “Hydra 7/19 Aprile 1857, Francesco Pige di Tirolo pinxit” was located, an element which led to the identification of other of his works having the same technical characteristics.