Styles and Movements: Macchiaioli

I'm back to the art blogging world. This week I am going to begin with another a Modern art movement, the Macchiaioli. Enjoy!

Giovanni Fattori, Cowboys of the Maremma Driving the Herds, 1893

Oil on canvas, 200 x 300 cm, Livorno, Museo Civico Fattori

Telemaco Signorini, On a Hill in Settignano, 1885

Oil on Canvas, 37 x 50 cm, Private Collection

Macchiaioli was a style related to the Impressionism and similarly criticized by the academy. Formed by a group of Florentine and Neapolitan painters in Florence, their painting style featured the paint rather than narratives. They painted in a sketch manner that highlighted their “initial impressions of nature,” in color, light, and shadows, primarily painting outdoors.[1] The group’s name, Macchiaioli, refers to the painter’s effort to emphasize the areas of light and shade by marking the painting with spots. These marks or stains of color were referred to as “macchie.” Preceding the French Impressionists, the Macchiaioli began with a group of artists in the 1850s that were tired of the stifling academies and sought to reinvigorate Italian painting. Influenced by the old masters (Caravaggio) as well as the French Barbizon School, the Macchiaioli (including artist Telemaco Signorini) changed Italian painting. Undervalued during its time, the movement lasted from 1860 to 1890.

For more information refer to:

Broude, Norma. The Macchiaioli: Italian Painters of the Nineteenth Century. London: Yale University Press, 1987.

Steingräber, E., & Matteucci, G. The Macchiaioli: Tuscan Painters of the Sunlight : March 14-April 20, 1984. New York: Stair Sainty Matthiesen in association with Matthiesen, London, 1984.

Turner, J. Grove Dictionary of Art. USA: Oxford University Press, 1996.

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[1] See Encyclopedia Britannica