Francesco Hayez: The Painter Who Hid a Revolution in a Kiss
Meritioum · The Romantics
Behind Italy's most famous embrace: a soldier's goodbye, a hidden dagger, a lurking spy — and the colours of a flag.
Francesco Hayez (1791–1882) was the leader of Italian Romanticism, and his painting The Kiss (Il Bacio, 1859) is one of the most beloved images in all of Italian art. At first glance it's simply the most passionate kiss in painting: a medieval couple wrapped in a single, urgent embrace. But look closer and it turns into something else entirely — a secret message about war, conspiracy and the birth of a nation, smuggled right past the censors. Here's the man who painted it, and the code hidden in plain sight.
| Who | Francesco Hayez — the leader of Italian Romanticism |
|---|---|
| Lived | 1791 (Venice) – 1882 (Milan) |
| Movement | Romanticism — Italian style, fused with the patriotism of the Risorgimento |
| Famous for | The Kiss (Il Bacio, 1859); grand history paintings; superb portraits |
| Day job | Professor, then director, of the Brera Academy in Milan |
| Hidden talent | Smuggling patriotic messages past the Austrian censors |
| Started as | A Neoclassicist, under the wing of the sculptor Canova |
| See his work | The Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan (The Kiss is in Room XXXVII) |
Who was Francesco Hayez?
Hayez was born in Venice in 1791 into a poor family, the youngest of five sons. He was raised largely by an aunt whose husband was a ship-owner and art collector — and that household, full of paintings, set the course of his life. Apprenticed first to an art restorer, he trained in Venice, then won a competition that sent him to Rome, where he came under the wing of the great Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova. So Hayez began, like many of his generation, as a Neoclassicist — all clean line and classical calm.
Then he changed Italian painting. Settling in Milan in the 1820s, he became the star of the Brera Academy (eventually its director) and the undisputed leader of Italian Romanticism. He's often called the Manzoni of painting, after the great novelist Alessandro Manzoni — whose portrait he also painted — because both men turned art into a vehicle for Italian feeling and Italian identity. In a country still split into pieces and partly ruled by Austria, that was not a neutral thing to do.
The Kiss: Italy's most famous painting, and its secret
On the surface, The Kiss is pure Romantic feeling: a young couple in medieval dress, faces pressed together, the woman leaning back into the man's arms. It's deliberately timeless — Hayez left the lovers' faces hidden so that the kiss itself, not the people, would be the subject.
But this was 1859, during the Second Italian War of Independence, and the Pinacoteca di Brera (which now owns the painting) is clear that it was made to symbolise the love of the motherland and the hopes of a nation being born. The clues are everywhere once you know to look: the man's foot is already on the step, as if he must leave at any second; a dagger is tucked into his cloak, hinting at rebellion against the Austrian rulers; and a shadowy figure lurks at the left — a spy, perhaps. Even the date matters. Because openly nationalist art was dangerous under Austrian censorship, Hayez disguised the whole message as a harmless medieval love scene. Audiences weren't fooled in the slightest — they adored the daring kiss and read the patriotic message loud and clear.
The biggest clue is the palette. In the Brera version, the blue of the woman's dress and the red of the man's tights echo the French flag — a thank-you to France, whose alliance with Piedmont (sealed at Plombières in 1858) helped drive Austria out. Other elements nod to the Italian tricolour: red, white and green. A kiss, yes — but also two flags.
A kiss in the shadows — and, hidden in the colours, a country waiting to be born.Il Bacio, 1859
Why are there three versions?
Here's a detail that trips up even art lovers: there isn't just one Kiss. Hayez painted the composition more than once. The famous original (1859, with the blue dress) is the one in the Brera. A later version, painted around 1861, swapped the woman's blue dress for white; it travelled to the Paris world's fair of 1867 and was bought by a Russian grand duke — and when it reappeared at auction in 2008, it sold for over £780,000. A third version adds a white cloth draped on the steps, making the red-white-green of the Italian tricolour even more obvious. Same kiss, slightly different flags.
Five things they don't teach you about Hayez
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The most romantic painting in Italy is really about politics
Strip away the swoon and The Kiss is a coded Risorgimento manifesto: a patriot saying goodbye before going to fight, a hidden dagger, a watching spy. The romance is real — but it's also a disguise.
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He hid the message to dodge the censors
Open calls for Italian unity could get you arrested under Austrian rule. So Hayez dressed his message in medieval costume and "safe" historical settings — a trick that let patriotic art hide in plain sight on gallery walls.
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There are at least three versions — with different flags
Hayez repainted The Kiss more than once, tweaking the colours of the lovers' clothes each time to emphasise the French alliance or the Italian tricolour. Spotting the differences is half the fun.
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The lovers have no faces — on purpose
Hayez deliberately kept the couple anonymous so the kiss would be the star, not any particular pair of people. It's exactly why the image still feels so universal and modern more than 160 years later.
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He was Italy's answer to Delacroix — and started as a Neoclassicist
Hayez led Italian Romanticism much as Eugène Delacroix led the French version — yet he trained under the Neoclassical sculptor Canova. He's living proof of how one movement grew straight out of the other.
Two ways to read The Kiss
On the surface
- You see
- A passionate medieval couple, mid-kiss
- Mood
- Tender, urgent, timeless
- Romantic because
- It puts pure feeling above everything
Underneath
- You find
- A goodbye, a hidden dagger, a lurking spy
- Mood
- Conspiracy, danger, hope
- Patriotic because
- The colours stand for the flags of Italy and France
A Hayez timeline
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1791 | Born in Venice into a poor family |
| 1809 | Wins a competition and travels to Rome, into Canova's circle |
| 1820 | Pietro Rossi is hailed at Brera as a "manifesto" of Romantic painting |
| 1823 | Moves to Milan; becomes a professor at the Brera Academy |
| 1841 | Paints his famous portrait of the writer Alessandro Manzoni |
| 1850 | Becomes director of the Brera Academy |
| 1859 | Paints The Kiss during the Second War of Independence |
| 1861 | The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed |
| 1882 | Dies in Milan, aged about 91 |
| 1886 | The Kiss is donated to the Pinacoteca di Brera |
Why Hayez still matters
Hayez gave Italian Romanticism its face — and, quietly, its flag. He proved that a painting could be both a swooning love scene and an act of resistance, and in doing so he turned The Kiss into the emotional emblem of the Risorgimento and, in the Brera's own words, perhaps the most reproduced Italian painting of the entire 19th century. He stands beside fellow Romantics like Eugène Delacroix, J.M.W. Turner and Francisco Goya — and for the movement that connects them all, see our guide to Romanticism.
Francesco Hayez: frequently asked questions
Who was Francesco Hayez?
An Italian painter (1791–1882) regarded as the leading artist of Italian Romanticism. Based in Milan, where he led the Brera Academy, he was famous for grand history paintings, fine portraits and the iconic The Kiss.
What is The Kiss (Il Bacio) about?
On the surface, it's a passionate kiss between a medieval couple. Underneath, it's a patriotic allegory of the Risorgimento — Italian unification — with hidden clues like the man's dagger, his imminent departure and the flag colours in the lovers' clothes.
Why is The Kiss considered a patriotic painting?
It was painted in 1859, during the Second Italian War of Independence. The colours echo the Italian and French flags (celebrating their alliance against Austria), and details like the dagger and the lurking spy hint at rebellion — all disguised to slip past Austrian censorship.
How many versions of The Kiss are there?
Hayez painted the composition more than once. The 1859 original (blue dress) is in the Brera; a later version (around 1861) shows a white dress and was sold at auction in 2008; a third adds a white cloth on the steps to stress the Italian tricolour.
Where is The Kiss?
The famous original hangs in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, in Room XXXVII, where it is one of the gallery's most popular works.
Sources
- Pinacoteca di Brera — The Kiss (Il Bacio): https://pinacotecabrera.org/en/collezioni/collezione-on-line/the-kiss/
- Treccani, Enciclopedia Italiana — Francesco Hayez: https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/francesco-hayez/
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Francesco Hayez: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francesco-Hayez
- Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice — collection: https://www.gallerieaccademia.it/en