LUIGI PAGANI (ITALIAN, 1829-1904)

After initial training in his native town of Bergamo, Luigi Pagani (d.1904) moved to Milan and studied at the prestigious Accademia di Brera under the guidance of Benedetto Cacciatori. After winning the Accademia's annual sculpture competition in 1860 with his Jesus in the Garden (now in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan), Pagani began his career with several public commissions in Milan, most prominent of which were numerous sculptures for the interior of the Duomo. From the mid-1860s, his work was shown at major annual exhibitions in Brera, Milan, Turin and Rome, and from 1870 at the Royal Academy in London.