Giovanni Boldini

Giovanni Fattori in his study

Giovanni Boldini

Giovanni Boldini was born in 1842 in Ferrara, Italy. Son of the painter Antonio, he demonstrated his artistic talents as a child and received his first training from his father. In 1864 he moved to Florence, at the time one of the most culturally lively cities in Italy, where he stayed until 1871 and attended the Accademia di Belle Arti art school. In the city, Boldini had the opportunity to bond with the most important artists and critics of the time: in particular, at the caffè Michelangelo, he came into contact with the representatives of the Macchiaioli artistic movement who introduced and updated him to the new themes of European contemporary art. This group of painters, active mainly in the Tuscan area at the end of the 19th century, was critical of the academic culture of those years, proposing a painting style made up of juxtapositions of patches of colour. This particular way of painting gave rise to their name, which was given to them in an ironic manner on one of their first group exhibitions.

Giovanni Boldini

Giovanni Boldini was born in 1842 in Ferrara, Italy. Son of the painter Antonio, he demonstrated his artistic talents as a child and received his first training from his father. In 1864 he moved to Florence, at the time one of the most culturally lively cities in Italy, where he stayed until 1871 and attended the Accademia di Belle Arti art school. In the city, Boldini had the opportunity to bond with the most important artists and critics of the time: in particular, at the caffè Michelangelo, he came into contact with the representatives of the Macchiaioli artistic movement who introduced and updated him to the new themes of European contemporary art. This group of painters, active mainly in the Tuscan area at the end of the 19th century, was critical of the academic culture of those years, proposing a painting style made up of juxtapositions of patches of colour. This particular way of painting gave rise to their name, which was given to them in an ironic manner on one of their first group exhibitions.

Boldini preferred portraits of friends and colleagues depicted on canvas in casual poses. He also regularly frequented wealthy foreigners who commissioned portraits from him and welcomed him into their splendid villas. It was one of these, Sir Walter Falconer, who invited him to the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867, offering him the opportunity to stay in the French capital for the first time. In 1870, he decided to settle in London for a year, but despite the great success he achieved, thanks to the numerous portraits requested by London high society, Boldini returned to Paris where he met the most important painters of the time. Their influence led him to produce a series of genre paintings, with scenes of everyday life, and views of Parisian squares and streets. His favourite genre remained the portrait, in which the rapid drawing and bright colours, made up of a few confident touches, reached their maximum expression, allowing him to best represent the frivolous and refined society of the period.

13 x 24 cm

Date: 1866-1867
Medium: oil on wood

Introduction

The work Giovanni Fattori in his study dates from 1866-67; painted during Boldini's stay in Florence, it bears witness to his friendship with Giovanni Fattori - one of the leading exponents of the Macchiaioli movement - which grew out of their mutual frequentation of Livorno and Castiglioncello in the summer of 1867, when both were guests of his friend and patron Diego Martelli

The work is located at Gallerie d'Italia - Milano.

The work Giovanni Fattori in his study dates from 1866-67; painted during Boldini's stay in Florence, it bears witness to his friendship with Giovanni Fattori - one of the leading exponents of the Macchiaioli movement - which grew out of their mutual frequentation of Livorno and Castiglioncello in the summer of 1867, when both were guests of his friend and patron Diego Martelli

The work is located at Gallerie d'Italia - Milano.

Boldini probably used a cigar box lid as a stand. Despite its small size, it is able to capture the space in which Fattori worked with just a few essential strokes: a small room with light-coloured walls.

In the centre of the scene, the painter is portrayed in profile, seated with his legs crossed as he works on a canvas placed on an easel, his palette and paintbrush in his hands.

In the background a tall, round cast-iron stove is depicted, supposedly to heat the likely very cold room. Perhaps the painter is working with his coat and hat on because the stove is turned off.

Military headgear - the chepì - is placed in front of the stove to recall Fattori as a battle painter

In fact, to the viewer's left, behind the picture the artist is intent on painting, is the draft of the Assalto alla Madonna della Scoperta, a painting completed in 1868 and now on display at the Giovanni Fattori Civic Museum in Leghorn.

The artist's signature is visible in the bottom right-hand corner.