(ANSA) - FLORENCE, 01 JAN - The Uffizi Galleries have purchased the 'Portrait of Colonel Arese Lucini in prison' by Francesco Hayez, a masterpiece of Renaissance painting.
The work, an oil on canvas, can be seen from 1 January at the beginning of the Uffizi itinerary, at the top of the Lorraine staircase.
After a 'tour' in various Tuscan municipalities, it will be permanently exhibited in the Modern Art Gallery of Palazzo Pitti.
Hayez, at the end of the 1820s, portrayed Count Francesco Teodoro Arese Lucini (Milan 1778-1836), a Napoleonic soldier later involved in the Risorgimento uprisings, in a painting that became famous both for its very original story and for its intrinsic expressive power.
The acquisition thus allows the Uffizi Galleries to enrich its heritage with a fundamental work, not only for its pictorial value, but also for its strong historical and political significance in relation to the movements of the Risorgimento.
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