Rinaldo and Armida

other

This youthful work was to some extent still rooted in Venetian art of the late eighteenth century but also reveals Canova's influence. Hayez created a splendid effect in the way the light filters through the green of the garden of the seductive enchantress. He also showed virtuoso talent in the way the light reflects in the circular shield that glitters in the foreground.

Loading map…

About the Artist

Francesco Hayez

1791 – 1882

Italian painter, active mainly in Milan. Hayez was the most important figure in the transition from Neoclassicism to Romanticism in Italian painting, but his Romantic leanings come out mainly in subject-matter rather than in technique, the clear outlines he favoured revealing his training in Rome in the circle of Canova and Ingres. He painted religious, historical, and mythological works in a vein owing something to Delacroix and Delaroche, and portraits that are sometimes thought worthy of comparison with those of Ingres. Many of the most eminent Italians of the day sat for him. For many years he taught at the Brera in Milan (he became Director in 1860) and he exercised great influence on his pupils. The Brera has an outstanding collection of his work.

View all works →