Magrini first studied at the Dosso Dossi school in Ferrara, then perfected his skills at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples under the guidance of Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi. Once back in Ferrara, he contaminated the light of Morelli's fiery late-romanticism with the Central European angularity of the German and Austrian masters, including von Stuck, Klinger, Klimt and Böcklin. Having moved permanently to Milan, he devoted himself to painting, decoration, stage design, engraving, monotype and applied graphics.