Giovanni Fattori was born in Livorno, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, where from 1869 he will be a teacher of Painting. Also in Florence he frequented the Caffè Michelangiolo, a meeting place for artists and a debate on art. According to the dominant "history painting", he initially devoted himself to paintings representing events from the past. In 1859 he approaches the painting of episodes of the Risorgimento , hence the great line of paintings with a subject of the Risorgimento, which from the initial battles becomes more and more a depiction of the rear, the everyday life of simple soldiers and defeats.
