Seventh dialogue “On Ingres and Hayez. A different look at mid-19th century women”

The stars of the seventh dialogue are a masterpiece from the Pinacoteca’s own collections entitled Portrait of Teresa Manzoni Stampa Borri by Francesco Hayez and three important guest works rarely shown in public, all of which illustrate different approaches to the interpretation of naturalism.

The seventh dialogue, entitled “On Ingres and Hayez. A different look at mid-19th century women”, showcases a masterpiece from the Pinacoteca’s own collection, Francesco Hayez’s Portrait of Teresa Manzoni Stampa Borri, interacting with three important guest works: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s Portrait of Madame Gonse from the Musèe Ingres in Montauban, Francesco Hayez’s Portrait of Selene Taccioli Ruga and a plaster bust by Lorenzo Bartolini portraying Anna Maria Virginia Buoni Bartolini, the two latter works both from private collections.

Ingres and Bartolini, who also happened to be great friends, were both influenced by, and students of, Tuscan Renaissance art while Hayez, who met Ingres and was able to admire his work during the years he spent in Rome, sought his inspiration in Venetian art, especially in the art of Titian. Yet the work of all three reveals a deep sensitivity to psychological introspection, their portraits not only capturing their sitters’ features but also revealing their mood and their character.
Other paintings in these rooms partaking of the same reflection on the female figure in the middle of the 19th century are Hayez’s Portrait of Teresa Manzoni Stampa Borri, The Odalisque and Melancholy, all of them celebrated icons of Lombard Romanticism that point to the artist’s study of the works of Raphael and Titian.

Other paintings in these rooms partaking of the same reflection on the female figure in the middle of the 19th century are Hayez’s Portrait of Teresa Manzoni Stampa Borri, The Odalisque and Melancholy, all of them celebrated icons of Lombard Romanticism that point to the artist’s study of the works of Raphael and Titian.
And lastly, again from the Pinacoteca di Brera’s own collection, the new layout showcases Giuseppe Molteni’s Portrait of the Singer Giuditta Pasta and Mother Mourning the Death of Her Child, both of them outstanding examples of that Milanese painter’s “worldly” manner which were admired, or criticised, from the moment they joined the Brera collection in the 19th century for being so diametrically opposed to Hayez’s work.
The prestigious loans for this dialogue, while rarely displayed in public, are all outstanding examples of the work of leading 19th century artists and of their different takes on naturalism.

The dialogue, which aims to spark a debate on the female figure in the mid-19th century, is the final step in the renovation of the Pinacoteca that has finally become an appealing home to art and culture in line with the highest international standards, allowing visitors to admire its collections from an exciting and thoroughly innovative standpoint.
 

 
Dialogue curated by Isabella Marelli, Fernando Mazzocca and Carlo Sisi

The renovation of all 38 rooms in the Pinacoteca di Brera came to an end, after three years, on 4 October with the 7th dialogue On Ingrés and Hayez and with the opening of the Caffè Fernanda (dedicated to former Director Fernanda Wittgens).
“Today marks the end of a beginning – said Director James Bradburne – allowing us now to head towards new goals”.

Special thanks must go to the Fondazione Giulio e Giovanna Sacchetti Onlus, in particular to Giovanna Sacchetti, without whose support it would not have been possible to complete this crucial project for the city of Milan. The Fondazione made a huge contribution to renewing the layout of the Pinacoteca’s last two rooms devoted to 19th century Neoclassical and Romantic painting.

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Portrait of Teresa Manzoni Stampa Borri

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