reading of Walter Scott. In the early 1850s Fattori began frequenting the Caffè Michelangiolo on via Larga, a popular gathering place for Florentine artists who carried on lively discussions of politics and new trends in art. Several of these artists would discover the work of the painters of the Barbizon school while visiting Paris for the Exposition of 1855, and would bring back to Italy an enthusiasm for the then-novel practice of painting outdoors, directly from nature. In 1859 Fattori met Roman landscape painter Giovanni Costa, whose example influenced him to join his colleagues and take up painting realistic landscapes and scenes of contemporary life en plein air. This marked a turning point in Fattori's development: he became a member of the Macchiaioli, a group of Tuscan painters whose methods and aims are somewhat similar to those of the Impressionists, of which they are considered forerunners. Like their French counterparts, they were criticized for their paintings' lack of decorative qualities and conventional finish, although the Macchiaioli did not go as far as the Impressionists did in dissolving form in light. In 1859 he won the competition for a patriotic battle scene, organized by the Concorso Ricasoli (national competition organized by the government of Bettino Ricasoli) with his painting Il campo italiano dopo la battaglia di Magenta (The Italian Camp at the Battle of Magenta) (completed in 1860–61). The financial reward allowed him to marry Settimia Vannucci in July 1859 and to settle in Florence. Paintings in the middle period (1861–1883) Fattori's mature works represent a synthesis between the natural light of painting en plein air—painting with vivid but composed spots (macchia)—and the traditional method of composing large paintings in the studio, from sketches. During the period 1861–67 he stayed mainly at Livorno, to nurse his wife who had contracted tuberculosis. During this period he painted peasantry, themes from rural life and also some portraits, such as La cugina Argia. In these works he demonstrated his mastery of macchia technique, natural light and shade with their contrasting areas of broad colour, showing the formative influence of Giovanni Costa. In 1864 he submitted four more works to the Promotrice fiorentina. In his landscape painting La Rotonda di Palmieri (Palmieri's round terrace) (1866), geometrical simplicity and colour have become a structural part of the painting. Late in 1866 he moved to a new and larger studio in Florence, to accommodate his larger historical