The shepherd's daughters

Cabianca's 'The Shepherd's Daughters' (1869) demonstrates his facility with watercolor, a medium he used alongside oil for both finished works and preparatory studies. The pastoral subject — daughters of a shepherd, positioned within a rural landscape or domestic threshold — connects to the idealized yet grounded rural figures that appeared across Macchiaioli painting. Watercolor had specific advantages for Italian painters working outdoors: its portability, speed, and the luminosity achievable on white paper made it ideal for capturing natural light. By 1869, Cabianca had fully resolved his tonal approach in oil, and his watercolor technique reflects the same principles applied to a more fluid medium. The subject's gentle idealization of rural childhood and family life was consistent with broader Italian Romantic tendencies that persisted within Macchiaioli work despite the group's empiricist commitments.

Watercolor on paper allows Cabianca to exploit the luminosity of the white support showing through transparent washes. Tonal contrasts are achieved by layering washes of varying density rather than applying opaque pigment. The medium suits the soft, diffuse light of pastoral settings better than the sharp chiaroscuro of his enclosed interior oil paintings.