When Fattori went into hiding

Giovanni Fattori was born in Livorno on September 6, 1825. His brother Rinaldo, 15 years older, owner of an established business bank acted as his father. Giovanni abandoned his studies and went to work with his brother where he learned to read and write.

Unquestionable artistic inclinations pushed the family, even if disadvantaged, to enroll him in the private school of Giuseppe Baldini (the only painter in the city).

But Giovanni does not find himself with Baldini. He finds him vain, frivolous and inconclusive. He therefore moved to Florence to study at the Academy of Fine Arts.

And it is here that his personality as a man and artist is consolidated. With classmates attends the "Caffè Michelangelo" where we talk about art and revolution. The ferocious jokes that Fattori was able to inflict on his unfortunate victims are still famous.

The clear opposition of his parents saved him from the war in which Giovanni wanted to participate with enthusiasm.

Fattori did not like the "history of art" nor the French Impressionists. He preferred "realism". "Realism brings an accurate study of the present Society, realism shows the wounds by which it is afflicted, realism will send our customs and habits to posterity". In his famous painting "The Battle of Magenta", which contributed to his fame, his focus is not on glorious deeds of heroism, but on transporting the wounded after the battle.

The style is particular and has a fixed point: the stain. There are no boundary lines for Factors, but his observation of reality tells him that the correct representation of what is seen must be done through splashes of color. The eye is struck only by the colors. So no shades or chiaroscuro but juxtaposition of colors to be matched to each other on the basis of "tone", "value" and their convenient "relationship". In fact, in the design grid of Factors the contour lines do not exist.

His reflection on everyday life was always conducted with rigor and authenticity, even when, by now famous, he frequented the much hated "aristocratic caste".

Farmers, rural life, less conspicuous and more gory aspects of the reality of the time. Nature, for Fattori, is anything but a rural idyll, but a cruel and hostile reality where men and animals are companions in their destiny of suffering.

Fattori left a strong and tangible mark on numerous artists such as Pelizza da Volpedo and fellow Livorno citizen Amedeo Modigliani.