Piazzoni was born on April 14, 1872, in
Intragna, Ticino, Switzerland. He moved at the age of 15 to his father's dairy farm in the
Carmel Valley. His uncle
Luigi Piazzoni, had the Luigi Piazzoni ranch adjacent to his father's ranch. After training with
Arthur Frank Mathews at the
Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (later the
San Francisco Art Institute), Piazzoni trained for three years in Paris at the
Académie Julian and under
Jean-Léon Gérôme. and was one of the most influential exponents of
this style in California. He sought out the lighting effects of certain times of day, taking a "special interest in full moonrises, the viewing of which became a family ritual. Venturing up a hill, the family would cheer the appearance of the moon. Piazzoni knew the exact time for each moonrise and kept precise records." He was able to portray the essential qualities of a scene and achieve a strong mood, using only minimal descriptive details. After public debate and lawsuits in the late 1990s, the ten principal murals can now be seen at the
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. By early 1901 Piazzoni was sharing a studio with fellow painter
Xavier Martínez, with whom he founded a year later the short-lived California Society of Artists. He was also a co-founder of the
California Society of Etchers in 1912, with Robert B. Harshe, art professor at Stanford University;
Pedro Joseph de Lemos, professor at
San Francisco Art Institute; and
Ralph Stackpole, sculptor, printmaker, and at that time Piazzoni's studio assistant. He enthusiastically advanced the career of sculptor
Arthur Putnam. He was also a member of the
Bohemian Club, exhibited with the Berkeley and Monterey art colonies, taught at the
San Francisco Art Institute, and served on the jury and advisory committee of the Art Gallery at the
Hotel Del Monte. Piazzoni was also a good friend of Impressionist
Granville Redmond and introduced the Deaf artist to Charlie Chaplin. The relationship of Redmond, Chaplin and Piazzoni is explored in a play by
Steve Hauk, "The Floating Hat," published by the Traditional Fine Art Organization, Inc. The play is also in the collection of the Gallaudet University library. Among his students were
George Post,
Rinaldo Cuneo,
Dorr Bothwell, and
Clayton Sumner Price. American landscape painter Mireille Piazzoni Wood was Piazzoni's daughter, painter-writer Philip Wood his son-in-law. Artists Thomas Wood and
Russell Chatham are Piazzoni grandsons. ==Death==