Eleuterio Pagliano (2 May 1826 – 5 January 1903) was an Italian painter of the Romantic period as well as an activist and fighter of the Risorgimento.
Pagliano was born in Casale Monferrato in the Kingdom of Sardinia and studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. He began his artistic career with paintings in a distinctly Neoclassical style, but very quickly he was won over to Romanticism.
His contribution to the Risorgimento included joining the popular revolt against the Austrian garrison in Milan known as the cinque giornate of 1848 and fighting under Garibaldi in Rome in 1849 and in Varese in 1859. His artworks too, including a portrait of Garibaldi and a six meter wide painting (pictured) of the disembarkment of Garibaldi and his “Hunters of the Alps” at Sesto Calende on Lake Maggiore, reflected his patriotic involvement in the Italian Wars of Independence.
In his later life Pagliano became a teacher and counted among his students the painter Pompeo Mariani.
Eleuterio Pagliano died in Milan at the age of 75. During his lifetime his paintings had failed to make a great stir; however, his reputation increased when, shortly after his death, an exhibition in his honour was mounted in Milan.