Niccolò Cannicci
1846–1906 · Macchiaioli painter from Italy
Niccolò Cannicci (1846-1906) was an Italian painter of the Macchiaioli movement, best known for views of town and countryside that bring together the industrial landscape of the city and the pastoral world of the rural areas. His work is valued for capturing the meeting point between these two worlds in a changing Italy.
He was the son of the painter Gaetano Cannicci, who came from San Gimignano, and his first lessons were with his father. From 1862 to 1865 he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, under Giuseppe Marrubini and Enrico Pollastrini, and attended the nude drawing classes of Antonio Ciseri. After graduating he frequented the Caffè Michelangiolo, where he met Giovanni Fattori and other Macchiaioli. In this period he painted landscapes of the Maremma and the area around San Gimignano, where he lived with an uncle.
He had his first exhibition at the Accademia in 1872. Three years later he went to Paris, where he stayed with Fattori, Egisto Ferroni and Francesco Gioli, whose influence shaped his work, though he was also exposed to Impressionism. From 1876 he took part in the meetings of the Decentralist Committee, formed by the critic Diego Martelli, which promoted greater autonomy for local Italian academies. Over the following decade he showed at several major exhibitions, including the Exposition Universelle of 1878 and one at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1883, and from 1887 he regularly exhibited at the Venice International Exhibition.
His physical and mental health was fragile for much of his adult life. After his mother died in 1893 he suffered a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide several times, which led to his committal to the San Niccolò psychiatric hospital in Siena. From this experience he produced an album of portraits of the mentally ill. He later settled in the isolated village of Montemiccioli and took part in local exhibitions. He died in Florence at the age of fifty-nine.
Works (3)
Genre scene dated 1896, oil on canvas, showing people gathering Elymus tsukushiensis, a wild grass, beside a river. The subject is everyday rural labour rather than a heroic episode, and the plants hold a central place in the composition. Without further references, its commission and early reception remain unknown, so it is best read as a direct record of a working landscape.
Oil on canvas dated 1902 by Niccolò Cannicci. The work belongs to the landscape genre, but there is no information about the place depicted or its original owner. The title suggests an atmosphere of early light and stillness, though this reading is only probable and remains undocumented.
The painting shows a peasant family in the countryside, and its title points to thirst as its central theme. The scene seems to focus on the hardship of farm labour and the basic need for water. The available information does not establish when it was made or for whom, so it is best approached through what the image itself shows.
Where to see the work
- Galleria d'arte moderna Florence · 1