A lost work by great 19th-century
Italian Romantic painter Francesco Hayez has been recovered, art
cops said Tuesday.
The oil on canvas was inspired by a melodramatic story involving
Louis XIV of France and one of his mistresses, Mademoiselle de
La Vallère.
Until 1838 it was on show in Milan's famed Brera Gallery
alongside Hayez's most iconic work, The Kiss.
The work was discovered among the paintings of a private
Milanese collector who did not know he had such a famous work.
It was identified by experts from the Il Ponte auction house.
The work will be put up for sale by Il Ponte at Milan's Palazzo
Crivelli on June 16.
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