Romeo and Juliet Hayez – 500-piece puzzle

In 1859 , while the Second War of Independence, with the victories of Magenta, Solferino and San Martino, definitively opened the doors to the Unification of Italy, Hayez painted The Kiss
Undoubtedly the artist’s most famous creation, the painting enjoyed widespread and deserved popularity. The sweet, furtive kiss exchanged between the two young people in medieval garb was immediately interpreted as the conspirator, or volunteer, bidding farewell to his beloved.
This interpretation was supported by the young man’s covered face, his left foot resting on a step as if he were in a great hurry to escape, the dagger whose hilt was pressed against the girl’s side, and the shadow of a person (projected against the wall on the left, beyond an opening) which appears to be that of someone who is watching from afar.

The figures of the two young people stand out clearly against a wall of squared stones. The uniform surface of the background is interrupted by the opening introduced by a thin column, on the left, and by the hint of a mullioned window at the top right, cut off by the upper edge of the canvas. The girl is completely abandoned in the embrace . Her sinuous figure, as if cut out between the red of her stockings and the brown of her beloved’s cloak, is embellished by the iridescent and shiny reflections of the silk dress, clinging to the bust and billowing with folds below the hips, which
It seems to add further light to the scene.

Romeo and Juliet’s Last Farewell by Hayez

The same theme of the kiss, moreover, had already been previously treated by Hayez in Romeo and Juliet’s Last Farewell , a large oil on canvas from 1823. Oil painting on canvas depicting a young man and a young woman embracing in the act of kissing.

The painting was commissioned by Count Giovan Battista Sommariva and presented in Milan at the annual Brera Fine Arts Exhibition in 1823. It was the first important literary theme addressed by Francesco Hayez, who was inspired by a sixteenth-century short story by Luigi Da Porto (“Story of Two Noble Lovers”) and, above all, by William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
The scene is set in front of a window in a room of a medieval palace. In the background is the figure of an elderly woman holding a candle.
The scene depicts Romeo, with his right foot already resting on the step beneath the window and his hand clutching the mullioned window, turning his head and torso toward the sweet Juliet, who kisses him, tenderly embracing him with her left arm. This romantic scene heralds the drama that will soon engulf the unhappy lovers.