Artist Francesco Hayez ( 1791 - 1882 ) | Italian Romatic Painter | ArtLiveAndBeauty

 

Francesco Hayez's Paintings

Francesco Hayez (1791 Venice – 1882 Milan) was an Italian painter who was noted for his historical paintings, political allegories, and portraits. He was one of the main painters of romanticism in the mid-nineteenth century. The son of a French national. Francesco Hayez was the youngest of five sons born into an impoverished household in Venice. His parents sent him to his aunt, whose husband saw creative potential in his young nephew and sent him to a restoration business to study. At the age of seven, the youngster enrolled as a pupil of F. Maggiotto, with whom he spent three years learning the fundamentals of painting. Hayets had always been a good artist, so his uncle hired him as an apprentice to an art restorer. 

Later, Francesco Hayez became a three-year pupil of the painter Francesco Maggiotto. After winning a competition conducted by the Academy of Venice in 1809, Francesco Hayez spent a year studying at the Academy of St. Luke in Rome. He was attracted by antiquity throughout his studies, and he also studied sculpture at the Farsetti Gallery. He was particularly interested in Renaissance paintings by masters. He stayed in Rome until 1814, then proceeded to Naples, where he painted his most famous piece, "Odysseus in the Palace of Alkinoy," under the orders of Joachim Murat. Later, Francesco Hayez moved to Milan. He taught painting at the Brera Academy for many years before becoming its director in 1860. The Monumental Cemetery in Milan is where he is buried.

Almost all of Francesco Hayez's works are currently housed in Italian state collections (the largest collection belongs to the Milan art gallery Pinacoteca Brera). Francesco mostly painted religious, historical, literary, and mythical topics, but he was also a fantastic portrait painter, and many great Italians considered it an honour to sit for him when he was painting a portrait. The semi-nude feminine nature was also one of his favourite themes. Francesco Hayez began his career as a classicist painter before moving on to romanticism and salon art.

Among Francesco Hayez's most renowned paintings is "The Kiss," painted in 1859, in which he mixed a romantic storyline with a symbolic portrayal of love for the homeland. The Kiss immediately garnered a following and became one of the most popular 19th-century Italian paintings. The original is at the Brera Pinacoteca, and other author's copies are scattered around Europe. It should be mentioned that evaluating Francesco Hayez's work in its whole is difficult due to the fact that he did not sign or date the majority of his works. Most of the time, the year mentioned in the painting's description is the year of sale, not the year of creation.