At the end of 1859 Fattori decided to participate in the competition announced by Bettino Ricasoli for the execution of four paintings depicting the main military episodes of the Italian Risorgimento: Curtatone, Palestro, San Martino and Magenta.

Fattori's representative choice, however, shifts the view to a particular moment of the battle: in fact, it is not the heroic aspect of it that is depicted, but the dignified return of the wounded soldiers to the rear to be assisted by the nurses.

On the left, right next to the stagecoach, are the wounded soldiers who, still managing to walk, independently return to the rear following a man with a bandaged head advancing on a tired-footed white horse.

[5] The composition, sober and balanced, is structured on horizontal lines, which suggest a sensation of static nature, however compromised by the dynamism of other elements (such as the horses), useful for transmitting the tension of the clash to the observer.

From a stylistic point of view, the painting cannot yet be described as fully Macchiaioli: although the color has already been applied to the canvas with extensive horizontal backgrounds, the volumes and distances are rendered with the traditional chiaroscuro.