Cavalry charge

Painted in 1877, Cavalry Charge depicts Italian mounted troops at the moment of full gallop engagement — the most dramatic and dangerous event in the cavalry soldier's military life. Fattori had documented the Risorgimento cavalry in many modes — patrol, rest, reconnaissance — but the full charge was the subject that required the most dynamic compositional solution. By 1877 his mastery of equestrian painting was complete, and the charge could be rendered from confident knowledge of both horse anatomy and the physics of massed movement. The work demonstrates that his formal resources — the Macchiaioli vocabulary of tonal contrast and direct observation — were fully adequate to subjects of high action as well as quiet pastoral contemplation.

The charge demands diagonal compositional organisation, and Fattori obliges — the horses drive forward across the canvas at an angle that creates maximum sense of momentum. Dust, the blur of motion, and compressed space all reinforce the kinetic charge. The palette is warm and urgent, brushwork rapid and assured.