The exhibition showcases about one hundred works by
Cabianca as well as approximately 25 paintings by other
macchiaioli artists among which are Telemaco
Signorini, Giovanni Fattori,
Silvestro Lega, Cristiano
Banti, and Nino Costa.
The exhibition in Florence is enriched, in respect
to the one held in Orvieto which ended on 1st July, with
other important works by Cabianca, including the large
painting of I novellieri fiorentini (Florentine
Storytellers) from Palazzo Pitti, the Scena
medievale (Medieval Scene) and Le monachine in
riva al mare (Nuns on the Seashore) both from the
Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Milan, the very
beautiful paintings Al sole (In the Sun) and
L’acquaiola (The Water-carrier) from private
collections and works by other macchiaioli masters such
as the painting Giovani pescatori (Young
Fishermen) by Telemaco Signorini, and Riunione di
contadine (Group of Countrywomen) by Cristiano
Banti.
The exhibition is promoted and organized by the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Orvieto, under the sponsorship of the Ministry for Arts and Culture and the Municipality of Florence.
The exhibition is curated by Francesca Dini, assisted by a prestigious scientific committee. Cabianca’s pictorial training and evolution is reconstructed here by means of a great number of paintings, some of which displayed for the first time, thus offering the visitor the opportunity to become acquainted with the personal experience of an artist and his aesthetic choices through the history of the Macchiaioli at large as a “group-based” artistic movement.
We can admire famous paintings such as the Abbandonata (Deserted Wife) and unknown ones like Vendemmia in Toscana (Grape Harvest in Tuscany), evidence of the years of daring experimentations with the “macchia” technique (macchia being the Italian for a spot of colour) which Cabianca carried out with Banti and Signorini in Liguria and in the Tuscan countryside around Montemurlo between 1859 and 1862, culminating in the famous masterpiece Il mattino (Morning) and in Marmi a Carrara Marina (Marble Blocks in Carrara Marina) which had not been exhibited for almost a century.
The golden years of the “macchia”, the central moment of the fellowship with his macchiaioli friends in the Florentine countryside around Piagentina and in the seascapes of Castiglioncello and Versilia, are witnessed by famous masterpieces such as Spiaggia a Viareggio (Beach in Viareggio) and Un bagno fra gli scogli (Bathers on the Rocks).
The splendid 1862 Ritorno dai campi (Back from the Fields), which had not been exhibited for decades, is the painting around which views of Tuscan countryside, either never displayed before or not seen for a long time, rotate.
After moving to Rome in 1870, Cabianca visited several times the Roman countryside, Ischia, Liguria, Venice and Castiglioncello. It was a continuous wandering in search for light effects which he would translate onto his canvases with an extraordinary vigour. Strada a Palestrina (Street in Palestrina) and Nettuno (Nettuno) date back to this period. His melancholic inspiration was gradually enriched with spiritualistic themes, in tune with the general climate of the last two decades of the century: thus a splendid masterpiece was created: Nevi romane (Roman Snowfall).
The exhibition ends with works representing two of his fundamental themes: the poetry of cloisters and Venice. They attest to the artist’s evolution towards fully 20th-century pictorial expressions.
The exhibition is promoted and organized by the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Orvieto, under the sponsorship of the Ministry for Arts and Culture and the Municipality of Florence.
The exhibition is curated by Francesca Dini, assisted by a prestigious scientific committee. Cabianca’s pictorial training and evolution is reconstructed here by means of a great number of paintings, some of which displayed for the first time, thus offering the visitor the opportunity to become acquainted with the personal experience of an artist and his aesthetic choices through the history of the Macchiaioli at large as a “group-based” artistic movement.
We can admire famous paintings such as the Abbandonata (Deserted Wife) and unknown ones like Vendemmia in Toscana (Grape Harvest in Tuscany), evidence of the years of daring experimentations with the “macchia” technique (macchia being the Italian for a spot of colour) which Cabianca carried out with Banti and Signorini in Liguria and in the Tuscan countryside around Montemurlo between 1859 and 1862, culminating in the famous masterpiece Il mattino (Morning) and in Marmi a Carrara Marina (Marble Blocks in Carrara Marina) which had not been exhibited for almost a century.
The golden years of the “macchia”, the central moment of the fellowship with his macchiaioli friends in the Florentine countryside around Piagentina and in the seascapes of Castiglioncello and Versilia, are witnessed by famous masterpieces such as Spiaggia a Viareggio (Beach in Viareggio) and Un bagno fra gli scogli (Bathers on the Rocks).
The splendid 1862 Ritorno dai campi (Back from the Fields), which had not been exhibited for decades, is the painting around which views of Tuscan countryside, either never displayed before or not seen for a long time, rotate.
After moving to Rome in 1870, Cabianca visited several times the Roman countryside, Ischia, Liguria, Venice and Castiglioncello. It was a continuous wandering in search for light effects which he would translate onto his canvases with an extraordinary vigour. Strada a Palestrina (Street in Palestrina) and Nettuno (Nettuno) date back to this period. His melancholic inspiration was gradually enriched with spiritualistic themes, in tune with the general climate of the last two decades of the century: thus a splendid masterpiece was created: Nevi romane (Roman Snowfall).
The exhibition ends with works representing two of his fundamental themes: the poetry of cloisters and Venice. They attest to the artist’s evolution towards fully 20th-century pictorial expressions.