Hayez came from a relatively poor family. His father was of French origin while his mother, Chiara Torcella, was from
Murano. The child Francisco, youngest of five sons, was brought up by his mother's sister, who
had married Giovanni Binasco, a well-off shipowner and collector of art. From childhood he showed a predisposition for drawing,
so his uncle apprenticed him to an art restorer. Later he becames a student of the painter Francisco
Magiotto with whom he continued his studies for three years. He was admitted to the painting course of the New Academy of
Fine Arts in 1806, where he studied under Teodoro Matteini. In 1809 he won a competition from the
Academy of Venice for one year of study at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. He remained in Rome until 1814, then moved to Naples where he was commissioned by Joachim Murat to paint a major work
depicting "Ulysses at the court of Alcinous". In 1850 he was
appointed director of the Academy of Brera in Milan.
Assessment of the career of Hayez is complicated by the fact that he often did not sign or date his works. Often the date
indicated from the evidence is that at which the work was acquired or sold, not of its creation. Moreover he often painted the
same compositions several times with minimal variations, or even with no variation. His early works show the influence of
Ingres and the Nazarene
movement. His later work participates in the Classical revival.
Family Portrait (1807)
Museo Luigi Bailo, Treviso
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Aristotle (1811)
Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice
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Ulysses at the court of Alcinous (1813-1815)
Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
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Portrait of Giuseppe Roberti (1819)
Museo Civico, Bassano
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Portrait of the family Stampa di Soncino (1821-1822)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Portrait of Antonietta Vitali Sola (1823)
Private collection, Milan
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The Penitent Mary Magdalene (1825)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
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The Patient (portrait of Carolina Zucchi) (1825)
Museo Civico, Turin
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Portrait of Count Ninni (1825)
Private collection, Treviso
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The Ballerina Carlotta Chabert as Venus (1830)
Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Trento
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Portrait of Don Giulio Vigoni as a Child (1830)
Private collection, Milan
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Portrait of Pompeo Marchesi (1830)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
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Bath of the Nymphs (1831)
Private collection, Lugano
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The Refugees from Parga (1831)
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia
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Bather (1832)
Private collection, Pavia
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Portrait of Cristina di Belgiojoso-Trivulzio (1832)
Private collection, Florence
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Bathsheba Bathing (1834)
Private collection, Lugano
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Odalisque Reclining (1839)
Private collection, Milan
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Release of Vittor Pisani from the dungeon (1840)
Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo
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Portrait of the princess of Sant' Antimo (1840-1844)
Museo di San Martino, Naples
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The Parting of the Two Foscari (1842)
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Florence
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Melancholy Thought (1842)
Private collection, Milan
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Portrait of Felicina Caglio Perego di Cremnago (1842)
Private collection, Milan
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Samson and the Lion (1842)
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Florence
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Meeting of Jacob and Esau (1844)
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia
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Portrait of Teresa Borri Stampa Manzoni (1847-1848)
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia
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Portrait of Antonietta Tarsis Basilico (1851)
Private collection, Rome
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Portrait of Matilde Juva-Branca (1851)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
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Portrait of a Veneitan Woman (c. 1852)
Private collection, Milan
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Venetian Women (1853)
Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo
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Portrait of Countess Antonietta Negroni Prati Morosini as a child (1858)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
(See also the portrait of her done in 1872)
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Bather viewed from behind (1859)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Female Nude (c. 1859)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Portrait of Count Baglioni (c. 1860)
Private collection, Treviso
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Portrait of Massimo d' Azeglio (1860)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Self-portrait at age 69 (1860)
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
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Portrait of Camillo Benso di Cavour (1864)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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The New Favorite (Harem Scene) (1866)
Private collection, Milan
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Odalisque with Book (1866)
Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo
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Odalisque (1867)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Portrait of Antonietta Negroni Prati Morosini, Oval (1872)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
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Self-portrait at age 88 (1879)
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Venice
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Vase of Flowers on the Window of a Harem (1881)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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