Cousin Argia

Fattori painted this quiet portrait in 1861, the year the separate states of the peninsula were joined into a single Kingdom of Italy. He belonged to the Macchiaioli, a group of Tuscan painters, several of whom, Fattori included, had lived through the wars of unification, who were dropping fine academic polish in favour of broad patches of light and shadow, the macchia, the mark. You can see that shift here: the grey dress and the plain wall are laid in broadly, while the young woman's steady gaze holds the whole picture together. A note on the back dedicates it to his cousin Argia, though no such cousin is actually recorded anywhere in his family.