


Hayez’s long friendship with Rossini dated back to their youth when they studied and roistered together in Rome. On the composer’s death, Hayez used a photograph to produce this superb portrait which lacks the stiffness of posthumous likenesses but has all the freshness associated with portraits drawn from life. Ironically, Hayez depicted his friend with his waistcoat open to reveal his white shirt, thus taking liberties with the photograph in which Rossini actually has his glasses hanging from the waistcoat.

AUTHOR Francesco Hayez
DATE 1870
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Oil on canvas
DIMENSIONS cm 109 x 87
INVENTORY 812
ROOM XXXVIII
Work on display