It is often remarked that Hayez was the painter of the kisses, from The Last Kiss of his early years to the three versions of his most celebrated Kiss of around 1859. Indeed, these rank among his most famous works, and the most iconic images of kisses made in the nineteenth century. The frank sensuality with which he imbued these images—as is certainly the case in the present work with its intimate dimensions and close cropping around the two women’s faces—is reminiscent of Canova, whose Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss (1793, Musée du Louvre, Paris) must have offered Hayez an apt model for his own evocative images of kissing.
