Cristiano Banti (Santa Croce sull’Arno 1824 - Montemurlo 1904)

Cristiano Banti (Santa Croce sull’Arno 1824 – Montemurlo 1904) initially trained in Siena in a strictly academic setting. His first encounters with the Macchiaioli were with Odoardo Borrani and Telemaco Signorini.
He travelled frequently from his home in Montemurlo to Florence, where he enjoyed a close association with the other members of the group.  He also made some trips abroad: to Paris in 1861 and 1875, and to London in 1879 and 1887.
Banti also showed some interest in the scientific aspects of the pictorial representation of reality; above all, he experimented with a somewhat moderate approach to the style of painting termed a macchie. His compositional structures remain classical and are harmoniously arranged in subtle balances.
Although he fully shared the anti-academic and anti-rhetorical intentions of the movement, Banti rejected the resolute contrast between masses of colour in favour of a luminosity achieved through subtle passages of tone.