Historical Inducements and the Pictorial Crusade of Francesco Hayez

Depending on its location of origin, imagery in Italy during the Nineteenth-century was beholden to Austrian, papal, Bourbon, or even Savoyard censors. The more visible the image, the more likely the intervention. In Milan, history painters deftly avoided censors to display liberal, romantic tendencies and promote Italian unity. During the most critical moment of the Risorgimento, they employed historical subjects to persuade future Italian citizens to gather under the Italian banner and drive out foreign occupiers. Having a much smaller audience than the operatic stage, history painting drew less attention, but still risked suppression. The Milanese painter Francesco Hayez (1791-1882) chose many subjects to strategically avoid political retribution, to clearly convey, in a recognizable cultural idiom, the need for autonomy, sovereignty and nationhood. His I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1827-29) negotiates the limitations of his political climate, while clearly alluding to the modern passions and populism necessary to push towards liberation. At its public exhibition in 1829 at the Brera Academy, censors showed no interest in the painting's celebration of the Christian crusades, but the Italian patriot recognized citizens coalescing under a banner that suggested divine providence. Points of discussion include Hayez's source material, at once traditional and radical, contemporary critical and popular reception, and his use of portraiture and self-portraiture to connect himself and the patron directly to the patriotic message. In the end, Hayez aimed to veil the present in the past to allude censors, but still persuade Italian viewers of their destiny as a nation.