Lyrical painting “Nude Italian” of the Romantic era belongs to Francesco Hayes – an Italian with French roots. The canvas is meaningful, although it has a lonely heroine in the plan – a naked Italian. In the detailed study of the picture, one more schematically traced character to the right of the wall catches his eye, but the author decided to leave his Italian alone.
The picture is clearly not complete, as evidenced by draped clothes hanging from the woman’s left hand. This detail is still a sketch – without a color solution. There is an understatement in the work and there is no fullness of meaning. Why is the heroine hiding around the corner, where is her dress and why is she ashamed? It remains to be content with what Hayes left to the audience. The girl is not erotic, causes, rather pity, rather than attraction. Her image is written from nature, modest and lost, like her copy. Characteristic of the ancient beauty of Rome, her hair is collected in a complex hairstyle. There is not a single superfluous detail, not even accessories or plant attributes. The artist contented with the natural beauty of the female body, preferring the frank Nyu to lush robes. The work is written in oil, very smooth and dry.
Coloring is very warm, bright and disposable. For Francesca Hayes, contrast is not typical, his works are always full of transparent colors and are not clogged with the struggle of light and shadow. In this canvas, the author does not change his love for the ocher palette, almost golden. The background, the one in the shade, has a deep, slate color. This combination creates a certain temperature in the work – in the light – a cozy warmth, in the shade – a summer coolness. The stone, like a wall is laid out, resembles a rough shell, still warm from the sun’s rays. Reflection in the horizontal masonry hints at the polished marble. A woman with her bare feet tramples a cool surface and, most likely, feels the whiff of the evening wind. She chilly, and maybe just ashamed. Therefore, the heroine so persistently hides the exposed body. The author transmitted with the help of colors not only the beauty of the nature of the heroine,
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)