Soffici was a highly versatile Italian figure known as a painter, writer, poet and sculptor. As a young man, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. He visited the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 and remained in the French capital for seven years, where his circle of friends included Braque, Derain, Picasso, Gris and Apollinaire. After returning to Italy, Soffici contributed important and influential articles on French art to the cultural journal La Voce, including the first Italian essay to discuss the principles of Cubism. In 1910 he organized an Impressionist exhibition in Florence, devoting an entire room to the work of Medardo Rosso. Soffici later developed an enthusiasm for Futurism, exhibiting with the movement in 1913 and giving its art and theory prime coverage in Lacerba, the journal which he edited together with Giovanni Papini.  During his brief affiliation with the movement  Soffici also experimented with Futurism’s literary principles. However, his work eventually took a more conservative turn, focusing on Tuscan landscapes and themes, especially after the First World War and the rise of fascism.