EXHIBITED:

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, 1833, p. 11 n. 13A.

A masterpiece of Francesco Hayez’s mature period, this painting resurfaced in 1991 and was subsequently included in the artist’s catalogue raisonné in 1994. Until now, and since its commission in 1833, the painting appeared on the market only once in 1995, when it was offered for sale at Harari & Johns in London.

First exhibited at the annual show of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in 1833, the work captivated audiences and stirred controversy - both for its evocative subject matter and its technical virtuosity. Commissioned by Swiss captain Giovanni Melli, a member of the radical Protestant League, the painting gained wider recognition through its reproduction in the Galleria Universale di Pittura e Scultura, an influential illustrated compendium of the time.

With this ambitious composition, Hayez engaged in a dialogue with ‘Old Masters’ such as Guido Reni, Guercino, and both Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, who had explored similar themes in the 17th century.

While celebrated for its breathtaking painterly execution - especially in the rendering of the nude - the work also provoked debate over the propriety of displaying a subject of such biblical yet provocative nature in a public exhibition. Despite the controversy, the painting’s psychological depth, exquisite treatment of the human figure, and its opulent exotic setting - akin to other biblical masterpieces by Hayez, such as his various interpretations of Bathsheba - secured its place as one of the best works by the undisputed genious of Romantic painting in Italy.

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