Una visita alla tomba di Giulietta e Romeo (A Visit to the Tomb of Juliet and Romeo)

The painting, executed by Tranquillo Cremona, one of the leading exponents of the Scapigliatura movement (an artistic and literary movement corresponding to the French Bohème, which promoted a free, unconventional, and disorderly lifestyle), depicts two lovers embracing emotionally as they remember the tragic fate of the protagonists of William Shakespeare's play. The two figures wear rich garments inspired by the Renaissance style, as well as their hairstyles: he wears a wide damask jacket and has his hair cut in a "pageboy" style; she wears a precious floor-length dress, with a wide skirt made of light, lustrous fabric and a fitted bodice, and has long red hair flowing down beyond her back. The young man supports his beloved, who leans against him with abandon, and the two are turned towards the left side of the painting: there, below, a sarcophagus can be seen, above which the recumbent statues of Juliet and Romeo are carved. The scene is set in an architectural space with an ancient appearance, as suggested by the round arch standing out in the upper left, while the floor is decorated with square tiles. In accordance with the theories of the Scapigliatura movement, we are faced with a painting of effect and atmosphere, devoid of preparatory drawing, employing the sfumato technique and revealing the melancholy of an uneasy inner life filled with emotion.

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