Born in Naples on 15 September 1832, died in Milan on 28 October 1906. He treated both the landscape and the figure and belonged to the Lombard school. From the East, where he had gone, he brought back views and landscapes of happy intonation, and exhibited with success in Milan, Venice, Turin, Naples, Parma, Paris, Berlin, Munich. In his paintings the happy artistic distribution of the masses and the effects of chiaroscuro are noteworthy. «The horror of the search for effects, for the rash boldness, sometimes led Formis to an excessive coldness of tones, but in drawing and technique he showed an uncommon, sincere and sure ability». (Bruno Brunelli-Bonetti). Main works: In the valley, in the Civic Museum of Turin; Torrente, in the National Gallery of Rome; Agricultural works in the Mantua area, owned by Eng. Castiglione; Alpine road, owned by Bonetti-Brunelli; Arab village near Alexandria in Egypt and Istanbul-Constantinople seen from Pera, exhibited in Parma in 1870; Tutti alla Pesca and Corner of the Sultan Ahmed Fountain in Constantinople, exhibited in Naples in 1877; Return to the piano, exhibited in Turin in 1880; Como, exhibited in Turin in 1884 and purchased by the King; Turkish cemetery in Pera; Egyptian landscape; Riviera of Nice; Return from a meal on Lake Varese and Tomb of the Sultans in Constantinople, exhibited in Milan in 1882; Sulla Strana, considered his masterpiece, exhibited in Venice in 1887; Maggen; Vita unconscia ed Erica in fiore, exhibited in Milan in 1906. The Gallery of Modern Art in Milan preserves by him: Alpine view; On the lagoon; The bed of the Lambro near Canto in 1870; View of Pallanza.