Hayez Puzzle

Francesco Hayez was born in Venice on February 10, 1791, and is considered the most important painter of Italian Romanticism.

Indeed, Hayez was one of the main exponents of historical Romanticism, with his paintings representing the ideals of the Risorgimento, tied to the concepts of homeland and freedom, through subjects from an epic and distant past.

The son of fishermen, Francesco Hayez was born, studied, and lived in Venice until 1809, when he moved to Rome to attend the Accademia di San Luca, thanks to a scholarship. There he discovered the wonders of archaeology and the Renaissance, while Antonio Canova introduced him to the city’s cultural and intellectual circles.

In 1823 he moved to Milan, where he mingled with the liberal bourgeoisie and the patriotic circles, becoming one of their promoters also through his art.

From 1850 he became a painting professor at the Accademia di Brera and during these years he interacted with personalities such as Alessandro Manzoni, Silvio Pellico, and Carlo Cattaneo.

In 1817 he married Vincenza Scaccia in Rome, from a wealthy bourgeois family, and began traveling through Northern Italy, painting frescoes in noble houses.

The Hayez puzzle “The Kiss” is not only the most important work of this extraordinary artist but certainly one of the most famous masterpieces of Romanticism and of 19th-century Italian painting, so much so that it has entered the collective imagination as the very symbol of romantic love.

The Kiss was painted by Hayez in 1859 on commission from Count Alfonso Maria Visconti of Saliceto, who upon his death donated it to the Pinacoteca of the Accademia di Brera, where it is still preserved.

There are three versions of The Kiss, each differing in the color of the woman’s dress.

The work depicts the terrible moment of separation between two young lovers condemned to a parting full of tragic enigmas. The shadow ascending the stairs indicates that the young man is ready to flee, the kiss is therefore a farewell. The dagger glimpsed hints further that he is evidently an anti-Austrian revolutionary.

Indeed, in this embrace and kiss, the observer feels the pain of an imminent and inevitable departure.

After the heartrending farewell, the girl will remain alone, filled with nostalgia, nurturing her melancholic waiting, distressed by the fear of never seeing her beloved again.

Here are some of his most famous works to get to know the genius from Venice up close: Pietro Rossi prigioniero degli Scaligeri; I Vespri siciliani; Family Portrait; The Last Kiss of Romeo and Juliet; Aristide; Triumphant Athlete; The Kiss; Carlotta Chabert, Venus with Two Doves; Penitent Mary Magdalene; Bather; Rinaldo and Armida; Susanna at the Bath; Reclining Odalisque; Portrait of Alessandro Manzoni; Melancholy.

Francesco Hayez died on December 21, 1882, in Milan at the age of 91, full of years and honors.

In 1890, his monument, created by sculptor Francesco Barzaghi, was inaugurated in Brera square.

In 1934, Milan dedicated a major exhibition to him at the Castello Sforzesco, displaying 98 of his paintings, while his works have taken their place in the world’s finest museums.