After spending his childhood at Glaveno seminary, Giacomo Grosso enrolled at the
Accademia Albertina in
Turin in 1873, thanks to a scholarship he was awarded by
Cambiano Town Council. He became a pupil of
Andrea Gastaldi and made his debut in 1882 at the 24th
Esposizione della Società di Incoraggiamento alle Belle Arti di Torino, completing his studies the following year. In 1884, he participated in the
Esposizione Generale Italiana in Turin with a painting inspired by
La storia di una capinera by
Giovanni Verga. After coming into contact with the Paris art scene through his many stays in the French capital, he continued to exhibit assiduously in the Turin Promotrici, the
Venice Biennale from the first edition in 1895 (with a one-man show in 1912), and in other international shows (Paris, 1896; Munich, 1899; San Francisco, 1915) where he became acclaimed as a portraitist. From 1901 when he made his first journey to South America he began to receive commissions from Argentina and in 1910, for the celebration of the
Argentinean Centennial in
Buenos Aires, he executed a large commemorative canvas
The panorama of the Battle of Maipú (lost in the fire in 1923), an episode in the War of Independence. From 1906 he held the chair of painting at the
Accademia Albertina in Turin and in 1929 he was nominated senator of the Kingdom of Italy. His solo exhibition of over fifty works was curated by
Leonardo Bistolfi at the Galleria Pesaro,
Milan, in 1926. Among his pupils are
Arturo Conterno,
Maurizio Pellegrini,
Eso Pelluzi, and
Giovanni Rava. ==Gallery==