Mother Mourning the Death of her Child

Giuseppe Molteni

Download hi-res image TITLE Mother Mourning the Death of her Child
AUTHOR Giuseppe Molteni
DATE 1845
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Oil on canvas
DIMENSIONS cm 146 x 116
INVENTORY 2200
ROOM XXXVII
FIRMA Molteni 1845
Work on display

Shown at Brera, this work was acclaimed as Molteni’s masterpiece and shown at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855. Unquestionably influenced by Hayez’s Melancholy the picture revisits the theme in a contemporary light, in an everyday context and with moral and social implications, the woman mourning the son for whom she has woven a wreath of flowers. Molteni was appointed curator of the Pinacoteca di Brera in 1855 and subsequently became its director.