This incredibly suggestive piece of Italian art will go under the hammer at a Sotheby’s auction on November 12 and bidding is expected to be fierce.
“Il bacio” or “the kiss” by Francesco Hayez, is one of four pieces created by him of the same subject.
This example comes from a private German art collection, with the most celebrated piece held in Milan’s Pinacoteca di Brera museum.
The difference with the auction version is the woman wears a white, not blue dress, meant to represent one of the colours in the Italian national flag.
The estimate for this piece sits at 400,000 to 600,000 pounds (505 to 760 thousand euros).
It will be an occasion to see how the art auction market is faring in these days.
Apart from the clear historic and literary inspiration (Romeo and Juliet, and Manzoni’s “The Betrothed”), “Il bacio”, the Brera example from 1859, is a piece for the new-born Italian nation and Italian romanticism.
The ‘risorgimento’ notion of patriotism is included in the piece that will go on auction.