Melancholy (Francesco Hayez) on:
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''Melancholy'' is an oil-on-canvas painting executed during 1840–41 by the Italian artist
''Melancholy'' is an oil-on-canvas painting executed during 1840–41 by the Italian artist Francesco Hayez
Francesco Hayez (; 10 February 1791 – 12 February 1882) was an Italian painter. He is considered one of the leading artists of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, and is renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories, and ...
, now in the pinacoteca di Brera
The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...
in Milan.
The artist describes the work in his ''Memorie'':
The work was a popular success, leading Hayez to paint a second version, completed in 1842 and entitled ''Pensiero malinconico'' (''Melancholy Thoughts''). Hayez wrote in his ''Memorie'' that it had "many variations, changing the figure's character and adding flowers", reflecting the few but substantial differences from the previous work – the clothes are differently arranged, leaving the breasts more exposed and enhancing the poignant sense of abandonment, whilst the hands hang down rather than being intertwined and the face is more emotionally charged. The artist's treatment of flowers continued in his 1881 ''Vase of Flowers at the Window of a Harem''.
References