One could even get lost in so much perfection and in fact it is difficult not to feel enveloped, almost observed, by the world of Francesco Hayez on display, with all its romanticism, at Gam until April 1st.
He so accomplished between patriotism, heroism and nipples scattered in his nudes, ideals, for goodness sake. Gam is a little less resolved, ready, hopefully, for major restorations and for the transition between a director who knows it well and has frequented it for years in various roles, Riccardo Passoni, and a director yet to be defined and revealed «in the next weeks”. We’ll see, in the meantime there is Hayez and he is a safe name applied to an excellent installation: everything right, explained, linked to the city with a work commissioned to be here, «The thirst suffered by the first crusaders», destined for Palazzo Reale, passed through travails of various kinds, subjected to dozens of preparatory studies. There are those too and not only that, the sketches, the proofs support the paintings and even the visitor is taken by the hand, accompanied from room to room. From portraits to biblical themes, from love to the defense of a nation that wasn’t even defined yet. Every choice is designed to be immediately appreciated, the emotion is just missing, but, as we know, the romantic promotes a virtue, uses symbols, believes in superior values, is devoted to immense passions that distract him from domestic loyalties and cannot be overwhelming because it wants to remain clear, explicit. Not misunderstandable.
Hayez does not betray. He, who lived in the years of the Risorgimento, defined by Mazzini as the painter of a nation in progress, almost an assignment to outline it, portrays a society and its ambitions. He looks from below up, like “The Meditation” and with her the heroism has now dissolved, the judgment remains. The accounts to be settled with Napoleon III, the punishment for the blood shed and the sensuality of a woman who imposes the truth on you, criticizes you, suggests hypothetical remorse, demands sincere thoughts free from the impulses put to the test by history.
He stands there and stares at you, much more intense than the kiss that isn’t there and isn’t even needed. You can see a kiss, it is not the most famous but a watercolor on paper from the same year, 1859, still a languid greeting, one mouth hanging on the other, an exchange of fragile eternity before a departure.
Hayez does everything well and so do the curators of the exhibition Fernando Mazzocca and Elena Lissoni who rightly underline the number of works that are almost unpublished or little seen in this research which extracts fifty drawings from the archives. Chronological order divided into ten sections: from training in Venice, to the life shared with Antonio Canova who would later become a friend and advisor in a Rome with many temptations and then achieve success in Milan. Through cities that were Italy and he painted it and studied it before putting it on canvas. Attentive, concentrated, obsessive about detail, submissive to a still classic beauty, without the flaws of reality. We shrug our shoulders a bit in the face of so much achievement and after all Hayez died at the age of ninety and covered in glory. Much more remains of him than the kiss attached to his name and rediscovering it here, independent of his catchphrase, gives a more complete idea. Not about us, not about how we were, probably more disheveled than he tells us. Hayez also adjusts the additions on the forehead and presents us as majestic and prepared for great causes. People modeled on athletes’ physiques or on biblical inspirations, enlightened by faith. Too much grace to bear without getting lost.
In case of apnea from excessive precision, there is a Napoleon by Luigi Ontani at the entrance: half emperor and half centaur. To feel more real.