Domenico Induno enrolled at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan in 1831 and was a pupil of Francesco Hayez, who provided him with a studio in his own home in 1840 and introduced him to the world of Milanese art dealers and collectors. After taking part in the Cinque Giornate uprising in Milan together with his brother and fellow painter Gerolamo, he went into voluntary exile, first in Switzerland, where he stayed in Astano, the hometown of his wife Emilia Trezzini, the sister of the painter Angelo, and then in Florence. Having returned to Milan at the end of 1849, he began to participate regularly in the Brera exhibitions and those held by the branches of the Società Promotrice di Belle Arti in Florence, Turin and Genoa with genre scenes inspired by the everyday life of common folk and episodes from the struggle for Italian liberation. He obtained important recognition at the Universal Exhibition of 1855 in Paris and the Vienna Exhibition of 1873.