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Self Portrait in a Group of Friend

Francesco Hayez1827

Museo Poldi Pezzoli

Museo Poldi Pezzoli
Milano, Italy

Francesco Hayez depicts himself with his friends: on the left the painters Pelagio Palagi and Giovanni Migliara (in profile); on the right the painter Giuseppe Molteni (in a top hat) and the writer Tommaso Grossi. Hayez is wearing a painter’s cap and round glasses. The image is intriguing: he appears unassuming and at the same time ironic and pleased.
The unfinished background, merges with the materials of their garments and unites the figures: friendship and belonging are perhaps the true themes of the painting, almost a manifesto of the Romantic Milan.
This self-portrait, actually a group portrait, has been viewed as the equivalent in painting of Il Brindisi (“The Toast”), a dialect poem by Tommaso Grossi. He recited it in 1824 at a dinner organized to celebrate the recovery of Hayez from a long illness. The date 1827, at the bottom left, is not autograph and the picture may have been painted at a date closer to the banquet

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  • Title: Self Portrait in a Group of Friend
  • Creator: Francesco Hayez
  • Creator Lifespan: 1791 - 1882
  • Creator Nationality: Italian
  • Creator Death Place: Milano
  • Creator Birth Place: Venezia
  • Date Created: 1827
  • Physical Dimensions: w29.5 x h32.5 cm
  • Rights: Fondazione artistica Poldi Pezzoli "Onlus"
  • External Link: http://www.museopoldipezzoli.it/#!/en/discover/collections/704
  • Medium: Canvas
Museo Poldi Pezzoli

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