Gioacchino Toma was an Italian art instructor and painter, noted primarily for historic, realistic and genre subjects in a Romantic style.
Toward the end of his life, Toma authored his autobiography, Memories of an Orphan relating a series of memories to his son, Gustavo: his difficult childhood; his tenacity; his desire for redemption; and his civil and political commitment. Together, Toma's experiences imbued his work with an overt melancholy — such that critics commonly described him as "il pittore del grigio," the painter of gray.