Portrait of Don Giulio Vigoni child

Portrait of Don Giulio Vigoni as a Child by Hayez from 1830 shows the Romantic painter working in the intimate genre of childhood portraiture. Hayez’s portraits of Milanese society families supplemented his income from the major historical canvases that made his reputation as Italy’s foremost Romantic painter. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays historical and literary subjects with patriotic undertones, Venetian color richness absorbed through early training, academic precision in figure types, melodramatic narrative.

The child portrait is rendered with warm, sympathetic handling. Hayez captures the freshness of youth with the sensitivity that characterizes his more intimate works.