The Ghetto of Florence, 1882 Telemaco Signorini was an Italian artist born on August 18, 1835 in Florence. He was a prominent member of the Macchiaioli movement that arose in Italy during the 1850's roughly a decade before Impressionism began in France. From the Italian "macchie", meaning stain or patches, their work was heavily influenced by brushwork and the effects of light from Old Masters such as Rembrandt, Tintoretto and Velázquez. Italy during this time was under massive change and turmoil of the Risorgiomento , and for these artists the established themes of the past felt outdated and decided to turn their focus onto everyday life. The artists met at a local coffee shop called Caffè Michelangiolo , along with writers and patriots. Although their art has faded with time under the shadow of the Impressionists, their art was born of revolution and cultural rebirth, and as we will see here Telemaco was the signature artist of the group with an eye unlike most...
The Tame Magpie, 1708 Born on February 4, 1667 in Genoa, Italy, Alessandro Magnasco was a late Baroque painter, aka. il Lissandrino. His style was highly distinctive and idiosyncratic—elongated, muscular forms in brisk brushwork reminiscent of Tintoretto along with some of his contemporaries: Tintoretto, Sebastiano Ricci, Francesco Solimena, and Giovanni Pellegrini. His strong shadows and vibrant colors are reminiscent of a Venetian style, yet suggest an ominous influence of Piranesi in his architectural capriccios. What makes him interesting is his highly idiosyncratic subject matter that was not common during his era, making him a genre painter by definition, or Bamboccianti as some may have described him. Highly individualistic or Romantic, his work is interesting so let's take a closer look. In The Tame Magpie above, an odd collection of people gather round to watch a man attempt to teach a magpie to sing. Some appear to be drunk and destitute, the woman representing c...