Italico Brass was an Italian painter and set designer, of irredentist political trends. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich under the landscape painter Karl Raupp (1837-1918).
In 1888 he moved to Paris, which had become the world’s contemporary art capital and a destination of choice for many Italian artists.
There he married a Russian woman called Lina Rebecca Vidgoff.
The couple settled permanently in Venice in 1895.

Painting had become Brass’s principle source of expression by the turn of the century, and he produced numerous portraits in these years, along with landscapes and views in the Venetian 18th century vedutista tradition.
Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Brass went to the front as a war painter and was commissioned to produce sketches and studies, which were published in a volume entitled "Sulle Orme di San Marco" in 1917.
He was present at many international Venetian biennials and at exhibitions in various cities of Europe and America.
In 1942 he collaborated in the realization of the scenes for the film "Canal Grande".

His grandson is the film director Tinto Brass.