The Baiser (hayez) — Wikipedia

The kiss ( (it) The kiss ) is a painting by the Italian painter Francesco Hayez dating from 1859. This oil on canvas represents a couple exchanging a kiss, in a clear obscure composition and in the troubadour style.

It is kept in Milan at the Pinacotèque de Brera. This painting becomes in her time a symbol of Italian romanticism, it is often interpreted as the bearer of the spirit of Risorgimento, a period which leads to the unification of Italy.

This painting represents a couple, dressed as in the Middle Ages, who exchanges a kiss. The man, caped with brown, and the woman, in a blue dress, stand at the foot of a staircase. On the first step, the man set foot. On the left, you can see an opening that leads to the lower floor and in the counterattack, there is a silhouette descending the stairs. The couple is at the center of the composition: the man’s face is hidden, that of the woman is a little less, but we distinguish that the lips touch. The man puts his hand on the woman’s cheek.

This table is an order from Count Alfonso Visconti di Saliceto, a fervent activist of Italian unification. It is presented at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brera the September 9, 1859 , and is then given by the count to this institution.

There are three other versions of this table, two of which have been located: the 1861 version differs, the woman’s dress is in white, it is an order from the Milanese banker Giulio Mylius (1835-1914), and was sold at Sotheby’s In 2008. The 1867 version was intended to represent the painter at the Italian pavilion of the Universal Exhibition of 1867 in Paris, and there too, it differs, a white veil rests on the steps of the stairs; Purchased by Duke Vladimir Alexandrovitch from Russia, she was sold at Christie’s New York in 2016, estimated at more than 900,000 € € ^{[ first ]} . The non -localized version is a smaller watercolor, offered by Hayez to her mistress, Carolina Zucchi, around 1861.

In addition, this table is in line with the Last kiss from Romeo and Juliet , Peint par hayez en 1823 (Tremezzo, Villa Carlotta) ^{[ 2 ]} .

This table occurs ten years after the failure of the First Italian War of Independence. Politically, the Italian elites invest the ideals of romanticism, forging their own visions, inspired by the French, and galvanized by the promises of Napoleon III. THE April 26, 1859 marks the beginning of the Second Italian War of Independence, which leads to the unification and proclamation of the kingdom of Italy 17 mars 1861 .

A symbol of Italian romanticism [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

This painting is considered to be a strong symbol of Italian romanticism: portrait painter of the I which perfectly masters the codes of neo-classical painting (anatomy, lighting, clear lines, contrasts), Hary draws her inspiration here in the imagination of the Middle Ages , a reinterpretation that many artists exploited at that time, and that criticism called the troubadour style. But it is in terms of the license, a kiss on the mouth, that this painting expresses and which will strike the spectators of the time: the country is deeply Catholic, and this figuration, even in clear obscure, transgresses the codes of decorum then in force. This table can therefore be seen as a form of release, a challenge to conventions.

An allégies of research [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In a deeper reading angle, this canvas tends to represent the spirit of Risorgimento, in a very patriotic note. It offers a celebration of the impetuous ardor of youth, masterfully sublimated as the love of the fatherland and the politico-military commitment. It is in this atmosphere that the couple of Hayez becomes the effigy, the personification of unified Italy: “Her skin (to the young woman) is the skin of the whole Italy. His body represents the nation. His mouth is the point of union. There is no separation, there is no contrast between the woman and the homeland ” ^{[ 3 ]} . This painting, ultimately, embodies the romantic, nationalist and patriotic ideals of the Ripor L’Exil, kissing his beloved for a last time.

An allegory of the alliance between France and Italy [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

But this canvas conveys other allegorical messages and symbols, recognizable thanks to the chromatic range of the table. This kiss seems to represent indeed through the clothes of the characters the alliance of 1859 between France and Italy. The pale blue dress and white sleeve of the girl, as well as the young man’s red pants represent France, while a touch of green on the man’s coat, also associated with the white of the English Channel dress and red pants, seem to personify Italy ^{[Ref. necessary]} .

The kiss enjoyed extreme notoriety and popularity of its first exhibition to today, especially in Italy, and was the subject of many comments. Undoubtedly reproduced by periodicals and print merchants, he appears for example in the form of an engraving painted in the decor of an intimate scene produced by the Italian artist Gerolamo Induno, and entitled Sad presentation (1862).

In the 1920s, the artistic director of Maison Perugina, one of the largest Italian chocolate, reproduced the painting on the covers of a range of box of chocolates called You kiss .

In 1954, Italian director Luchino Visconti was inspired by this painting for the composition of a scene from his film Sense , the kiss between Alida Valli and Farley Granger, at Villa Di Aldeno.

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