Coming from Italy, Eliseu Visconti and his family arrived in Rio de Janeiro between 1873 and 1875. Visconti attended the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios in Rio de Janeiro in 1883 and, in 1884, the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, becoming a pupil of Victor Meirelles, Rodolfo Amoêdo, among others. In 1892, then student of the National School of Fine Arts, he received a prize to make a trip to Europe. His first stay in the old continent, of intense intellectual activity and practice, lasted 9 years. On his return to Brazil, he held in Rio de Janeiro an exhibition with 88 works by himself. Between 1902 and 1917 he began to live between Rio de Janeiro and France. His production is vast and marked by experimentation. His period in Europe made him produce copies of works of great masters and works in decorative arts. The portraits and, mainly, self-portraits crossed the whole trajectory of Visconti. The Pinacoteca collection houses 6 works by the artist.