


This painting illustrates the final scene in Byron’s drama The Two Foscari. The doge, deceived by false charges, exiles his son who dies before the plot is uncovered. Hearing the news while the enemy faction pronounces his removal from office, the grieving doge collapses lifeless to the floor. Hayez portrays himself empathetically as the doge, just as he did with other tragic figures. The painting’s intensity was to inspire Giuseppe Verdi’s opera of the same name.

AUTHOR Francesco Hayez
DATE 1844
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Oil on canvas
DIMENSIONS cm 230 x 305
INVENTORY 6362
ROOM XXXVII
Work on display