He studied painting in Munich between 1842 and 1845. Thereafter he lived in Rome for three years, possibly in order to complement his artistic training, and then he settled in Greece.
He worked on the Greek islands and produced mostly portraits of the family members of prominent seafarers who demonstrated significant activity and enjoyed high prestige during the years of the Revolution. To a lesser degree, he also produced landscape paintings. Despite his very characteristic rendering of human figures, who are portrayed stern and formal in grandiose interior settings, next to open windows overlooking unknown archaeological sites, islands and cities, many of his works were initially attributed to painter Andreas Kriezis. His identity became known when the inscription “Hydra, 7/19 Aprile 1857, Francesco Pige di Tirolo pinxit” was discovered on a portrait of Hydriot Stamatis Voudouris. This clue led to the identification of more of this works featuring similar artistic and stylistic characteristics.