Artist: Giovanni Fattori (1825–1908)
Title: Resting in Maremma (Italian: Riposo in Maremma)
Description: Resting in Maremma (c.1875), by Giovanni Fattori
Date: circa 1875
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimension: height: 35 cm (13.7 in); width: 72.5 cm (28.5 in)
Collection: Private collection
Inscriptions: Signature bottom right: Gio. Fattori
What I like about this painting:
This is the first work I’ve seen by Giovanni Fattori. I really like the way it shows the laborers resting after loading the hay wagon. This is an excellent historical depiction of an ox-drawn hay wagon. One can see how the oxen are hitched, and the shape of the wagon.
I especially like the flat, dry land and the view of the sea beyond.
About this painting, via Wikipedia:
Following the death of his wife in March 1867, he spent the summer of 1867 in Castiglioncello with the critic Diego Martelli, the theoretician of the Macchiaioli. Working together with the painter Giuseppe Abbati on the same themes, he painted a number of landscapes en plein air and studies of rustic life and peasants working in market gardens. In these paintings, he put particular emphasis on a bold design within geometrical simplicity, and on an intense luminosity. One of his paintings from this period is Pause in the Maremma with Farmers and Ox-cart (1873–75).
About the Artist: via Wikipedia:
Giovanni Fattori (6 September 1825 – 30 August 1908) was an Italian artist, one of the leaders of the group known as the Macchiaioli. He was initially a painter of historical themes and military subjects. In his middle years, inspired by the Barbizon school, he became one of the leading Italian plein-airists, painting landscapes, rural scenes, and scenes of military life. After 1884, he devoted much energy to etching. [1]
For more about this artist, go to Giovanni Fattori – Wikipedia
Credits and Attributions:
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Giovanni Fattori,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giovanni_Fattori&oldid=1347862097 (accessed July 17, 2026).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
Is it just me, or does the hay look like a lion in profile?
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Hahaha!!! Alethea, I hadn’t noticed it, but now I can’t stop!
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Lol, it’s the first thing I saw 😁
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This is an artist I’ve not come across before.
That hay looks rather unstable, though.
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Hello Vivienne! It does look unbalanced. It seems to follow the wedge shape of the wagon. The way I’d tell this story is that the laborers figured, “Ah, no worries. It’ll do!” After all, they are now taking a nap!
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