01 Painting, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, with Footnotes. #50

Francesco Hayez, (1791-1882)

Portrait of Matilde Juva Branca, c.1851

Oil painting on canvas

121 × 95 cm

Gallery of Modern Art of Milan

The figure of the woman, portrayed on a neutral background illuminated by the usual pattern of lights typical of Hayez, is wrapped in black silk dresses from which emerge the white crinoline that frame her face and hands; an arm is placed on the chair on which a light ermine coat is spread, the other is extended along the body. The woman shows an elaborate curly hairstyle called anglaises , in English , particularly fashionable in those years. 

Matilde Juva Branca, born in Milan in 1820, was a famous amateur soprano protagonist. Born in the district of Meravigli n. Matilde married the wealthy Turin owner Giovanni Juva who commissioned his wife's painting as péndantto his own portrait always executed in 1851 by the student of Hayez Mauro Conconi.

Francesco Hayez (10 February 1791 – 21 December 1882) was an Italian painter, the leading artist of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories and exceptionally fine portraits.

Hayez came from a relatively poor family from Venice. He was brought up by his mother's sister, who had married 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 became a student of the painter Francesco Maggiotto 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. 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 the mid-1830s he attended the "Salotto Maffei" salon in Milan.

Francesco Hayez lived long and was prolific. His output spanned both historic paintings, and Neoclassic style grand themes, either from biblical or classical literature. He also painted scenes from theatrical presentations of his day.  More Francesco Hayez

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