(Florence 1846–1906)
Resting in the shade, signed NCannicci, oil on canvas, 75.5 x 43 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Count Gaetano Marzotto;
a gift from the above to the family of the present owner;
Private Collection, Italy.

Niccolò Cannicci was born in Florence in 1846, the son of the painter Gaetano Cannicci (1811-1878), originally from San Gimignano. He studied first with his father and then with Enrico Pollastrini at the Academy of Belle Arti in Florence, from 1862 to 1865.
He was influenced by the Macchiaioli such as Giovanni Fattori and Telemaco Signorini and is associated with the second generation artists such as Francesco Gioli and Egisto Ferroni. He painted en plein air in order to capture the natural light of his rural subjects.

In 1875 Cannicci traveled to Paris with his friends and fellow artists Gioli, Fattori, and Ferroni. Cannicci’s encounter with the Impressionists was crucial for his work and he began to apply colour more intensely and brushwork more spontaneously. Over the next decade, he participated in several major exhibitions, including the Exposition Universelle (1878), and one at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (1883). He was a regular exhibitor at the Esposizione Internazionale di Venezia from 1887. He retired to Castel San Gimignano, a small village located near the mediaeval city of San Gimignano, for health reasons. There he painted many rural scenes animated by peasants and animals, which won him public and critical acclaim.