Giuseppe Magni was an Italian painter, born in Pistoia in April 1869. He was a pupil of Professor Ciseri at the Florence Academy. Magni specialized in detailed genre and interior scenes.

The nineteenth century produced many of the most enduring images of provincial living in the whole of European art. Giuseppe Magni made his name with his delightful pictures of family gatherings with their wonderful feeling of togetherness.

Both Magni and Torriglia who both painted during a similar period are renowned for creating fabulous interiors of extraordinary quality. Very few of these images ever hint at the fact that nearly all of whom pictured would have to labour in the fields, even children from the early ages of eight or nine...