Francesco Hayez

Biography

Francesco Hayez was born in Venice in 1791 into a very humble family, which entrusted him to an uncle who was an antiquarian. The latter, noticing the young man’s talents, introduced him to artistic circles and to the studio of Francesco Fedeli, known as Il Maggiotto. He also frequented the gipsoteca in Palazzo Farsetti where his first approach to classical statuary took place.

Venetian colourism and the study of truth in drawing

In 1803, he enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, where he studied in particular Titian and the Venetian painters of the 15th century. Forming himself in this environment, colour acquired a fundamental role in his pictorial conception. Drawing was in fact less important than in the Tuscan tradition, but was nevertheless fundamental, especially in the creative process of his works. In fact, the artist drew from life to study the movements, gestures and expressions of the figures, and then left room for his creative flair, especially in the years to come.

In the meantime, he undertook trips to Rovigo, Siena, Florence and Bologna before winning an artistic pension in Rome.

The arrival in Rome and the Neoclassical beginnings

The Roman years are crucial for the painter. He daily visited the studio of Antonio Canova, who became one of his greatest supporters, and attended the Accademia di Palazzo Venezia. He also forged ties with Tommaso Minardi and Pelagio Palagi, with whom he would collaborate in the years to come. In the eternal city, he had the opportunity to study Raphael’s Vatican rooms, but above all he was able to observe Roman statuary in all its expressions at close quarters. During these years he sent several works to competitions, such as the Education of Achilles at the Academy in Naples; or the Laocoon at the Braidense Academy competition, under the encouragement of Canova, with which he won first prize. With these works, he established himself as a history painter, differing in the dramatic nature of the scene and the less set tones of academic painting.

The artist began to obtain his first commissions and frescoed a gallery in Palazzo Torlonia with the aforementioned Pelagio Palagi in 1813, the year in which he exhibited Rinaldo e Armida in Venice, a work that documents his initial Romantic spirit and his treatment of the literary theme, but still within the neoclassical idiom.

Medieval history as an allegory of contemporaneity: Romanticism

He then travelled to Florence, sent by Canova, and to Naples, appointed as Murat’s pensioner. In 1817 he returned to Venice where he received numerous commissions, including executing works for Cigognara, President of the Venetian Academy, and decorating the Sala del Generale Consiglio in the Royal Palace. He also participated in the restoration of Tintoretto’s frescoes in the Doge’s Palace in Venice. The city of his birth and Venetian painters were omnipresent in his production, his colour scheme and choice of subjects, recognising himself as a successor to the great Titian.

In 1819 he exhibited at Brera the work recognised by critics as the first Romantic painting, Pietro Rossi prisoner of the Scaligeri, which was requested by various members of the Milanese aristocracy. For the first time, the subject is chosen not from mythology or classical history, but from medieval history. With the episode of Pietro Rossi summoned by the Doge of Venice to defend the city invaded by the Scaligeri, the artist refers to the situation of foreign domination on Italian territory in his time, having also witnessed the fall of the ancient Republic as a child. It is the first time that the exemplus virtutis is not taken from the classical past, but from more recent history.

In 1822, he exhibited I Vespri siciliani, another example taken from medieval history with hidden meanings. In fact, The Vespers recounts the popular uprising against the domination of the French Angevins in 1282, always an allusion to foreign domination on the peninsula. The artist is able to skilfully combine the ideals of the ‘true’ and the ‘beautiful’ in the service of patriotic ideals. He also collaborated again with Palagi in the decoration of the Sala della Lanterna in the Palazzo Reale in Milan.

The artist moved to the Lombard city in 1823 and within a few years became the most famous and sought-after Romantic painter. He took part in numerous exhibitions at Brera presenting The Last Kiss of Romeo and Juliet, Peter the Hermit and The Penitent Magdalene. He also worked on portraits, receiving commissions from Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria. He also worked on the illustrations for Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, which were turned into copperplate engravings in 1840.

The Vate of the Nation: the spirit of the Risorgimento

In 1850 he participated in the Turin Exhibition with Ciociara and the same year he was appointed professor at the Brera Academy. Five years later he became its director, and then president, replacing Massimo D’Azeglio. In 1857, he took part in the Turin Exhibition with Lo zio di Caterina Cornaro, an envoy of the Venetian Republic, showing the flag of the lion of St. Mark, former lady of the kingdom of Cyprus. In 1859 he exhibited one of his most famous works, The Kiss, at Brera, just three months after the entry of Victor Emmanuel II and his ally Napoleon III into Milan against the Austrian troops. These were years of great revolutionary ferment and through his works the artist sent veiled and silent messages, but of subversive energy. In fact, the two young men are dressed according to medieval fashion, but with contemporary elements, such as the famous feathered hat worn by patriots in their fight against the foreigner. In fact, the artist depicts the moment of parting between the two lovers during the wars of independence, and a shadow behind them hinting at their imminent escape. Together with Alessandro Manzoni and Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Hayez is considered one of the Fathers of the Risorgimento and national genius. He also painted a portrait of Manzoni in the familiar surroundings of his home in 1841.

In 1872 he participated in the Milan Exhibition with eight works The Consuls of Milan and Federico Barbarossa’s envoy, Portrait of himself, Portrait of Mr. Morosini, Vittore Pisano freed from prison by the Arsenalotti, Bust of a Doge, Marco Visconti finds Bice in the castle of Rosate, The Last Moments of Marino Faliero and Half-length Portrait of the author. In this exhibition, he presented subjects of a literary nature from, for example, Marco Visconti, a novel by Tommaso Grossi, or of a historical subject, with Vittore Pisano and Marino Faliero, dealing with the triumph of popular justice over power.

He continued to exhibit until 1881 when he presented A Vase of Flowers on the Window of a Harem. He died the following year at the age of ninety-one.

Emanuela Di Vivona