


The young woman in black is Teresa Borri Stampa, the widow of Count Stefano Decio Stampa, with her mother Marianna, her brother Giuseppe and her son Stefano. The outdoor setting is a tribute to the countess’s sophisticated French culture but she disliked the picture, complaining that it shows her with a protruding belly, and rejected the urn with her husband’s profile on a column. The picture remained in the artist’s studio for three decades until he covered the vase and expanded the landscape.

AUTHOR Francesco Hayez
DATE 1822
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Oil on canvas
DIMENSIONS cm 125 x 108
INVENTORY 6361
ROOM XXXVII
Work on display