Vincenzo Cabianca: The Absolute Macchiaiolo

A new catalogue raisonné on Vincenzo Cabianca (Verona, 1827 – Rome 1902), one of the lesser-known Macchiaioli, has been published by Silvana Editoriale. Edited by Francesca Dini, a Florentine art historian specializing in 19th-century Italian art, the volume catalogs approximately 900 works and includes critical apparatus, correspondence, and archival materials. The publication was supported by the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì. Cabianca is credited as a founding figure of the Macchiaioli movement, arriving in Florence in 1853 with a solid academic background and later experimenting with painting from life alongside Telemaco Signorini in Liguria. He was described by critic Adriano Cecioni as "the most declared, the most violent, the most absolute Macchiaiolo." The catalogue includes public and private letters documenting his artistic and personal relationships, including correspondence with Giovanni Caliari, Telemaco Signorini, Giuseppe Abbati, Cristiano Banti, Federico Zandomeneghi, Diego Martelli, and his wife Adelaide. It also reproduces pages from his sketchbooks. Dini's research involved collating a biography by Cabianca's son Silvio with the artist's epistolary exchanges. The book, priced at €150, was released in 2020.