When, on November 3, 1861, a journalist from the Gazzetta del Popolo used the term “Macchiaioli” for the first time, he could hardly have imagined that this derogatory epithet would become the official name of the movement that had emerged in Florence only a few years earlier and later became famous throughout Italy.
The experience of the Macchiaioli unfolded in a short time, but it was enough to make it one of the most interesting and revolutionary movements in the European panorama.
Let’s relive that golden era together with some of the works and figures that made it famous.
Painting in “Macchia”: characteristics, themes, and protagonists
The Macchiaioli were so named for their painting technique composed of broad patches of color used to create shapes and volumes without evident contours. Drawing – the foundation of traditional Florentine artistic practice – was not entirely absent (they also worked through sketches and successive layers) but was concealed: the line gave way to matter, to light, and to its effects on objects.
According to Telemaco Signorini, one of the first and most committed representatives of the genre, the Macchiaioli “sought, with a restless desire for progress, the ‘macchia,’ that is, the evidence of chiaroscuro, and marked this first step in the progress of modern art, having freedom and reason as their guide”. A chiaroscuro made even more evident by the technique of the black mirror – a favored tool of the Macchiaioli – whose surface, blackened by smoke, reflected color and contrasts in an unprecedented way. Moreover, “macchia” did have the derogatory meaning of dirt but also, since the times of Vasari¹, the meaning of painting spontaneously and from life. Thus, the Aretine wrote in his Vite about the works of Tiziano: “conducted with strokes, sketched broadly, and with patches of manners, which up close cannot be seen, but from afar appear perfect”.
This true revolution openly contrasted with the teachings of the Accademia di Belle Arti, which was aligned – in methods, aesthetics, and themes – with the Romanticism of the grand historical paintings of Francesco Hayez and his followers.
Certainly, the Macchiaioli aspired not only to linguistic renewal but also to the transcendence of certain content. No longer beauty but truth in all its genuine, honest, and modest appearance: this is what they wanted to paint. Their repertoire indeed comprises military scenes, seascapes, and landscape views captured en plein air, often animated by human and animal presence, intimate interiors, and episodes of daily life.
But who were the Macchiaioli, and how did this new artistic movement arise?
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Caffè Michelangelo, gathering place of progressive intellectuals
Florence, then under the rule of Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Lorraine, was one of the most stimulating and open cities culturally, an ideal destination even for foreign intellectuals. The rooms of Caffè Michelangelo, opened in 1848 on Via Larga (now Via Cavour), were frequented by the city’s intelligentsia who debated politics, current events, and art in a cheerful and carefree atmosphere – at least in the early years.
Here met some prominent names of the Macchiaioli movement, such as Saverio Altamura, Vito D’Ancona, Odoardo Borrani, Giuseppe Abbati, Raffaello Sernesi, Carlo Ademollo, Vincenzo Cabianca, Cristiano Banti, Telemaco Signorini, Giovanni Fattori, and Silvestro Lega, as well as others like the art critic, writer, and patron Diego Martelli. At the Michelangelo, it is likely that Édouard Manet visited in 1857 during his trip to Florence, followed the next year by Edgar Degas.
To get an idea of the smoky yet effervescent atmosphere, one need only look at Adriano Cecioni’s watercolor Il Caffè Michelangelo (circa 1860-66, private collection), where, against the backdrop of a green room, the distorted portraits of 24 men can be recognized. “Twenty-four artists, atrociously caricatured, are seated at the tables discussing, shouting, and laughing”, described Signorini, who kept it among his most cherished belongings.
In 1866, the café closed its doors. A few years earlier, many of its famous patrons had participated in the Second Italian War of Independence and had enthusiastically supported the expedition of the Mille for the unification of Italy. The prolific adventure of the Macchiaioli was also about to end: they disbanded in 1870, leaving a legacy of revolutionary painting codes and works of inestimable value.
10 works to tell the story of the Macchiaioli
Beginning around 1855, the Macchiaioli’s production is truly vast. We have selected some works that allow us to delve into the lives and events of this vibrant group of artists.
The portraits
Diego Martelli, besides being a theorist, was a great friend and generous host to the group of artists from the Michelangelo, who often stayed at his large estate in Castiglioncello – a place of peace and beauty not yet corrupted by the rhythms and habits of city life.
The red beret, crossed legs, the leisurely pose in the shade of the trees: this is how Giovanni Fattori portrays him in Diego Martelli a Castiglioncello (1867, private collection). The palette and the composition’s framing are extraordinary, even anticipating Impressionist solutions, capturing all the tranquility and pleasantness of the setting. Curiously, this work never entered Martelli’s collection, although he habitually purchased Macchiaioli masterpieces for himself. It is thanks to him that we owe the original nucleus of the collection of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna at Palazzo Pitti.
Martelli was dear and well-liked by the Macchiaioli, but the same cannot be said of his wife. Diego and Teresa Fabbrini had met in a brothel and later married, to the astonishment of many. Telemaco Signorini never hid his antipathy for this simple woman, perhaps even insignificant, who could not match his friend’s stature. “Signora Gegia”, as she was called, was nevertheless a silent and discreet presence and remained by Martelli’s side until his death. We see her portrayed by Fattori in La signora Martelli a Castiglioncello (circa 1867, Livorno, Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori). Seated in the garden on a chaise longue similar to her husband’s, she rests immersed in the shade of the holm oaks. Teresa is not the only protagonist: the trees occupy much of the painting and rhythmically divide the space, framing her harmoniously.
While much is known about Teresa’s life, nothing is known about Argia, the protagonist of another of Fattori’s masterpieces. La cugina Argia (1861, Florence, Galleria d’arte moderna at Palazzo Pitti) is commonly identified as such due to an inscription found on the back, yet there is no trace of her in the artist’s family. Nonetheless, it is one of the painter’s highest achievements in terms of form and psychological portrayal of the subject.A bold painting, rich in color, describes with a few brushstrokes the dress, the chair’s backrest, and the bare background, whose simplicity recalls 15th-century painters (a constant source of inspiration for the Macchiaioli). However, the composition does not appear flat or imprecise; on the contrary, the liveliness of her gaze – directed at the viewer – and the gentle yet shadowed expression of the young woman convey her intriguing personality.
Scenes of daily life
Equally dense and without contours is Giuseppe Abbati’s painting in his Interno di un chiostro from around 1861, now housed in the Galleria d’arte moderna at Palazzo Pitti. A small oil masterpiece that confirms Abbati’s mastery in applying the potentials of the macchia. The restoration work of the chiesa di Santa Croce in Florence provided the occasion for the painting. The artist spent hours studying the geometries of marble blocks piled against the walls and the interplay of light on their surfaces, eventually arriving at this extreme and sophisticated synthesis. To construct it, Abbati employs Renaissance perspective, inserting a figure seen from behind in medieval-like attire and – the true protagonists – the white, almost buttery, rectangular blocks in stark contrast with the austere hues of the rest of the painting.
A vein of nostalgia runs through all of Silvestro Lega’s works, including his famous Un dopo pranzo (Il pergolato, 1868, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera). An affectionate homage to bourgeois life and the feminine world of the time, it is an image of great intimacy and harmony. Gathered under the pergolato to enjoy the coolness, a mother and her daughters await the coffee that a maid is bringing them. Lega captures the scene with extraordinary mastery: the perspective composition, inspired by Renaissance canons, the rich vegetation, and the variety of colors create a luminous and composed setting, peaceful and familiar.
Equally intimate is the setting of Il canto di uno stornello by the same artist (1867, Florence, Galleria d’arte moderna at Palazzo Pitti), depicting three young women engaged in singing and playing the piano in a domestic interior. A simple yet solemn composition, masterfully described by the light that illuminates the room, the dresses, the faces, and the sheet music. Again, the memory of the great 15th century masters is vivid and visible, particularly the monumental figures of Piero della Francesca. The result is a serene but melancholic atmosphere: in this realistic yet timeless scene, one senses Lega’s concern for the fate of a reality -the cultured bourgeoisie not yet industrialized – now in its twilight.
A group of women can also be glimpsed in La rotonda dei Bagni Palmieri by Giovanni Fattori (1866, Florence, Galleria d’arte moderna at Palazzo Pitti). The setting is decidedly more worldly – a well-equipped pier in Livorno where seven bourgeois ladies expose themselves to the sea air under a large ochre awning. Among them is the young Settimia Vannucci, Fattori’s first wife, who was suffering from tuberculosis. This detail might partly explain why the very small panel (12 x 35 cm) was never commented on by the artist’s contemporaries and why he kept it for himself in his bedroom.The figures are reduced to the bare minimum, using a pictorial language reminiscent of mosaic tesserae, on horizontal chromatic planes that enhance each other. Yet, the extreme abstraction – to which Fattori arrived after numerous studies and some compositional reconsiderations – does not detract from the scene’s legibility, perfectly conveying the emotional dimension of the work.
Contemporary history
Giovanni and Settimia had married shortly before, when in 1861 the then 27-year-old painter decided to visit Lombardy. The trip, linked to his artistic career, thus became an opportunity for a honeymoon that he otherwise could not have afforded. In 1859, Fattori had won a competition announced by the Governo Provvisorio della Toscana for the creation of a canvas on a Risorgimento theme. His sketch depicting the Battaglia di Magenta (fought on June 4, 1859) had been favorably received, but the final painting required a greater resemblance to the actual locations of the battle. These were the reasons for the journey.
Il campo italiano dopo la battaglia di Magenta (1862, Florence, Galleria d’arte moderna at Palazzo Pitti) is the final result of Fattori’s work, in which he abandons the glorious rhetoric of war to depict a minor episode: some nuns loading a wounded Austrian onto a cart. Once again, the subjects and the action are clearly recognizable, despite the compactness of the brushwork, which reduces details to the essential.
The emotional impact is stark, dramatic, and brutal in La sala delle agitate al Bonifazio di Firenze, signed and dated by Telemaco Signorini (1865, Venice, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna Ca’ Pesaro). The women, confined due to their mental disorders, populate the bare environment of the hospice, expressing their profound loneliness through gestures of anger and despair, screams, cries, and expressions of restless resignation.
This portrayal was so powerful that it caused shock among the public and critics but earned praise from some in the artistic community. It seems that the painting pleased Degas so much during his visit to the artist’s studio in 1875 that he revisited the motif of the foreshortened row of tables in his L’Absinthe (1876, Paris, Musée d’Orsay) the following year.
It appears that it was Signorini himself who suggested to Silvestro Lega the title of his Bersaglieri che conducono prigionieri austriaci from 1861 (Florence, Galleria d’arte moderna at Palazzo Pitti), initially called Ritorno da una spedizione.
According to Signorini, every unsold painting by the Macchiaioli “returning unsold, took its title of ‘Return’ from an expedition!”. The painting did not remain unsold and marked Lega’s formal adherence to the Macchiaioli movement (though not, unfortunately, his financial success, as he died in poverty). This adherence is visible in the contrasts of color, with the white of the Austrian uniforms enhancing – by contrast – the range of greens and blues in the painting, and in the treatment of the sky and landscape, described with a more fluid brushstroke than that used for the soldiers. The work is a straightforward account of a significant historical event contemporary to the artist, devoid of the pathos and sentimentality typical of Romanticism.
United by political vision and artistic intent, the Macchiaioli created an innovative and cohesive movement, yet one that was multifaceted and involved painters from Tuscany and beyond. Their works are preserved today in numerous Italian museums, but a visit to Palazzo Pitti is certainly an excellent starting point to admire them in person!
1 An artist, architect, and man of letters at the Medici court, Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) was also the author of Le vite de’ più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori italiani, da Cimabue insino a’ tempi nostri (published in 1550 and in 1568 with additions), a fundamental work for Italian art historiography.
