Lega was born in Modigliana, near Forlì, to an affluent family. From 1843 to 1847 he attended the Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, studying drawing under Benedetto Servolini (1805–79) and Tommaso Gazzarini (1790–1853), then studying painting, briefly, under Giuseppe Bezzuoli. During 1847 he attended Luigi Mussini’s school, where the teaching emphasized the 15th-century Florentine principles of drawing and orderly construction. Then and for some years afterwards he continued to attend the Scuola del Nudo of the Accademia. As a Garibaldian volunteer, Lega participated in the military campaigns for Italian independence (1848–9) before resuming his training, this time under Antonio Ciseri, completing his first large-scale painting, Doubting Thomas (1850; Modigliana, Osp. Civ.). In 1852 he won the Concorso Trienniale dell’Accademia with David Placating Saul. He died in Florence in 1895 of stomach cancer.39-15-09/30 REALISM PAINTING 19TH
Lega,Silvestro
Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Italian patriot and hero of the Risorgimento. Canvas
Museo Civico, Modigliana, Italy