Tito Lessi was an Italian painter and illustrator. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. In 1880, he travelled to Paris at the invitation of the art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer and stayed there until 1896. In Paris, Lessi mainly painted genre-like historical scenes, initially in watercolour, later in oils. He also painted interiors and genre scenes depicting the everyday life of the upper middle classes. A special feature of his art is Lessi's academic, almost photorealistic style. After his return to Florence, he painted mainly portraits. In the last years of his life, he devoted himself above all to illustrating Giovanni Boccaccio's Decamerone on behalf of the publisher Alinari. The valuable edition appeared in several volumes between 1909 and 1915 featuring 102 lithographs by Lessi.