Magenta, Lombardy in the context of Carlo Ponti

Magenta is a purplish red color. On color wheels of the RGB and CMYK color models, it is located directly midway between blue and red. It is one of the 4 colors of substractive ink used in color printing by most color printers, also known as CMYK along with yellow, cyan, and black to make all the other colors and hues. The tone of magenta used in printing, printer's magenta, is redder than the magenta of the RGB (additive) model, the former being closer to rose.

Magenta took its name from an aniline dye made and patented in 1859 by the French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin, who originally called it fuchsine. It was renamed to celebrate the French-Sardinian victory under French Emperor Napoleon III at the Battle of Magenta against the larger army of the Austrian Empire on 4 June 1859 near the Italian town of Magenta, at the time in Austria. This battle was decisive in liberating Italy from Austrian domination.

The Battle of Magenta (Italian pronunciation: [maˈdʒenta]) was fought on 4 June 1859 near the town of Magenta in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire, during the Second Italian War of Independence. It resulted in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferenc Gyulay. Napoleon III's army crossed the Ticino River and outflanked the Austrian right forcing the Austrian army under Gyulay to retreat. The confined nature of the country, a vast spread of orchards cut up by streams and irrigation canals, precluded elaborate manoeuvre. The Austrians turned every house into a miniature fortress. The brunt of the fighting was borne by 5,000 grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard, still mostly in their First Empire style of uniforms. The battle of Magenta was not a particularly large battle, but it was a decisive victory for the Franco-Sardinian alliance. Patrice de MacMahon was created Duke of Magenta for his role in this battle, and would later go on to serve as President of the French Third Republic.