Hayez came from a relatively poor family. His father was of French origin while his mother, Chiara Torcella, was from Murano. The child Francisco, youngest of five sons, was brought up by his mother's sister, who had married Giovanni Binasco, a well-off shipowner and collector of art. From childhood he showed a predisposition for drawing, so his uncle apprenticed him to an art restorer. Later he became a student of the painter Francisco Magiotto with whom he continued his studies for three years. He was admitted to the painting course of the New Academy of Fine Arts in 1806, where he studied under Teodoro Matteini. In 1809 he won a competition from the Academy of Venice for one year of study at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. He remained in Rome until 1814, then moved to Naples where he was commissioned by Joachim Murat to paint a major work depicting "Ulysses at the court of Alcinous". In 1850 he was appointed director of the Academy of Brera in Milan.
Assessment of the career of Hayez is complicated by the fact that he often did not sign or date his works. Often the date indicated from the evidence is that at which the work was acquired or sold, not of its creation. Moreover he often painted the same compositions several times with minimal variations, or even with no variation. His early works show the influence of Ingres and the Nazarene movement. His later work participates in the Classical revival.
Francesco Hayez 021.jpg
Family Portrait (1807)
Museo Luigi Bailo, Treviso
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Aristotle (1811)
Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice
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Francesco Hayez 028.jpg
Ulysses at the court of Alcinous (1813-1815)
Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
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Francesco Hayez 051.jpg
Rinaldo and Armida (1814)
Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice
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Francesco Hayez 046.jpg
Portrait of Giuseppe Roberti (1819)
Museo Civico, Bassano
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Francesco Hayez 035.jpg
Portrait of the family Stampa di Soncino (1821-1822)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 032.jpg
Portrait of Antonietta Vitali Sola (1823)
Private collection, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 006.jpg
The Penitent Mary Magdalene (1825)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 015.jpg
The Patient (portrait of Carolina Zucchi) (1825)
Museo Civico, Turin
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Francesco Hayez 043.jpg
Portrait of Count Ninni (1825)
Private collection, Treviso
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Francesco Hayez 033.jpg
The Ballerina Carlotta Chabert as Venus (1830)
Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Trento
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Francesco Hayez 044.jpg
Portrait of Don Giulio Vigoni as a Child (1830)
Private collection, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 049.jpg
Portrait of Pompeo Marchesi (1830)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 002.jpg
Bath of the Nymphs (1831)
Private collection, Lugano
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Francesco Hayez 013.jpg
The Refugees from Parga (1831)
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia
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Francesco Hayez 004.jpg
Bather (1832)
Private collection, Pavia
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Francesco Hayez 034.jpg
Portrait of Cristina di Belgiojoso-Trivulzio (1832)
Private collection, Florence
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Francesco Hayez 005.jpg
Bathsheba Bathing (1834)
Private collection, Lugano
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Francesco Hayez 024.jpg
Odalisque Reclining (1839)
Private collection, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 011.jpg
Release of Vittor Pisani from the dungeon (1840)
Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo
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Francesco Hayez 038.jpg
Portrait of the princess of Sant' Antimo (1840-1844)
Museo di San Martino, Naples
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Francesco Hayez 012.jpg
The Parting of the Two Foscari (1842)
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Florence
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Francesco Hayez 025.jpg
Melancholy Thought (1842)
Private collection, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 036.jpg
Portrait of Felicina Caglio Perego di Cremnago (1842)
Private collection, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 056.jpg
Samson and the Lion (1842)
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Florence
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Francesco Hayez 061.jpg
Meeting of Jacob and Esau (1844)
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia
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Francesco Hayez 039.jpg
Portrait of Teresa Borri Stampa Manzoni (1847-1848)
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia
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Francesco Hayez 031.jpg
Portrait of Antonietta Tarsis Basilico (1851)
Private collection, Rome
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Francesco Hayez 037.jpg
Portrait of Matilde Juva-Branca (1851)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 050.jpg
Portrait of a Veneitan Woman (c. 1852)
Private collection, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 059.jpg
Venetian Women (1853)
Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo
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Francesco Hayez 029.jpg
Portrait of Countess Antonietta Negroni Prati Morosini as a child (1858)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
(See also the portrait of her done in 1872)
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Francesco Hayez 054.jpg
Bather viewed from behind (1859)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 060.jpg
Female Nude (c. 1859)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 042.jpg
Portrait of Count Baglioni (c. 1860)
Private collection, Treviso
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Francesco Hayez 048.jpg
Portrait of Massimo d' Azeglio (1860)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 057.jpg
Self-portrait at age 69 (1860)
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
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Francesco Hayez 041.jpg
Portrait of Camillo Benso di Cavour (1864)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 016.jpg
The New Favorite (Harem Scene) (1866)
Private collection, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 027.jpg
Odalisque with Book (1866)
Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo
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Francesco Hayez 010.jpg
The Death of the Doge Marin Faliero (1867)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 017.jpg
Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem (1867)
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Venice
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Francesco Hayez 026.jpg
Odalisque (1867)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 030.jpg
Portrait of Antonietta Negroni Prati Morosini, Oval (1872)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
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Francesco Hayez 058.jpg
Self-portrait at age 88 (1879)
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Venice
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Francesco Hayez 007.jpg
Vase of Flowers on the Window of a Harem (1881)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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