{{Short description|Italian painter (1784–1853)}} thumb|Self-portrait, detail from ''Donizetti and friends'', 1840
'''Luigi Deleidi''' (15 November 1784, Bergamo - 2 September 1853, Bergamo)<ref name="T">[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/deleidi-luigi-detto-il-nebbia_(Dizionario_Biografico)/ Brief biography] @ Treccani.</ref> was an Italian Pre-Romantic painter; primarily of landscapes and vedute. He was often referred to by his nickname, "'''Il Nebbia'''" (The Fog).
==Biography== [[File:Luigi Deleidi, Piazza Vecchia.jpg|thumb|left|275px|''Piazza Vecchia'', the old square of Bergamo, now in the Accademia Carrara]]
[[File:Luigi Deleidi - Donizetti e amici.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''Donizetti and friends'', 1840, now in the Museo Donizettiano in Bergamo. From left: {{ill|Luigi Bettinelli|it}}, Gaetano Donizetti, {{ill|Antonio Dolci|ru|Антонио Дольчи}}, Simon Mayr and Luigi Deleidi]]
He was born to an artistically inclined family. His mother was the daughter of Pietro Antonio Gualdi Lodrini, a well-known local painter of religious works, and his brother Marco (1780-1843) also became a painter, although none of his works have been positively identified.<ref name="T" /> After displaying an ability to draw at an early age, Luigi was sent to the "Scuola di Pittura e Scenografia" in Milan, where he studied with Alessandro Sanquirico.<ref name="B" /> He may have visited Rome at this time, and returned to Bergamo in 1825.
He decided to specialize in landscapes and was nicknamed "The Fog" because his paintings all had a slightly hazy color, and many were set in the winter.<ref name="B">[http://www.bgpedia.it/de-leidi-luigi/ Brief biography] @ BGPedia.</ref>
He was a talented musician as well, and often played the bassoon with local orchestras or, occasionally, as a soloist.<ref name="B" /> He performed at both the {{ill|Teatro Sociale (Bergamo)|it|Teatro Sociale (Bergamo)|lt=Teatro Sociale}} and the Teatro Riccardi (now known as the Teatro Donizetti). In fact, he was a friend of Donizetti and an associate of other Bergamese artists, including Giuseppe Diotti, Francesco Coghetti and Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini.
Many members of the local nobility commissioned him to do frescoes at their villas, and he obtained many similar commissions during a stay in Rome from 1837 to 1842. Notable among these are the frescoes at the {{ill|Castello di Calepio|it}} and the {{ill|Castello di Costa di Mezzate|it}}, both belonging to the Vertova family. He is also credited with decorations at a building owned by the Torlonia family, identified as either the Villa Torlonia at Castel Gandolfo, or the Palazzo Torlonia.<ref name="T" /> If the latter, he probably worked together with his friend, Coghetti. He also decorated several theaters and participated in the production design.<ref name="B" />
He died, unmarried, at his home in 1853. The cause was given as apoplexy. It is unknown if he ever had any students. In 1856, a bust of him by Giovanni Maria Benzoni was placed in the Accademia Carrara.<ref name="T" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Pasino Locatelli, ''Illustri Bergamaschi: Pittori'', Pagnoncelli, 1869
== External links == {{commons category-inline|Luigi Deleidi}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Deleidi, Luigi}} Category:1784 births Category:1853 deaths Category:19th-century Italian painters Category:Italian male painters Category:Painters from Bergamo Category:Italian landscape painters Category:Fresco painters Category:19th-century Italian male artists Category:Painters from the Austrian Empire