Oooooh someone’s about to get cancelled. Well more than cancelled probably executed as this triptych (a series of 3 paintings) depicts a woman turning her lover over to the state inquisitors
Francesco Hayez painted these based on a poem by Andrea Maffei and they depict Rachel finding her BBF Maria and telling her all about how her lover betrayed her. From the paintings we don’t get a sense of how she’s been betrayed but that ramps up the drama imo wtf could it be that her lover has done. In Advised to Vengeance, Rachel is out in a mask and hood making it all the more clandestine. Like why does she need to cover her face? Who does she think she is a married man on grindr?
Her floral pattern dress with the black hood and mask makes her even more conspicuous especially next to Maria’s cute green ensemble with the black net veil.
Like this is basic pantomime level of communicating someone is the villain of the piece.
Anyway sis is there with receipts in hand and Maria is reaching for them but Rachel is keeping them just out of reach tyna keep hold of the power here as long as she can
In Secret Accusation we see Maria in the same outfit as before cuz its 1847 and Cher hadn’t invented the costume change yet. Her right hand is cradling her tummy as if trying to steel herself for the task ahead while her left hand holds the receipts and is lurching forwards with a pained expression on her face. Honestly hen i feel the same when i’m shown the screenshots of someone’s absolute fuckery. Once again a large portion of her beautiful green dress is in shadow showing us that where she is going is dark, that thing she is about to do is dark with the path of light behind her if only she would turn back
Her posture is hunched, weighed down by the decision she has made, with the black veil falling forwards as it begins to cover her face showing us how the grief of this betrayal is taking over perhaps even beginning to cloud her vision (a cheesy observation but hey this is all about the drama hens)
The final painting of this series is lost so all we have are reproductions of Revenge on a Rival.
In this one Rachel returns and is going off at Maria for cancelling her partner. How dare she do the thing i set her up to do?! The nerve! The gaul! The gumption!
Maria’s Look has changed slightly as she has a slightly different green dress but this time with a white veil which tells us she has a clear conscience and is in the right whereas Rachel is in shadow and still wearing that black mask and hood the shady bitch (quite literally all shade!)
We see the state inquisitor in this one all dressed in red which makes him stand out next to Maria. He has the receipts and is ready to deal with Maria’s lover in the harsh way the italian state was doing at this time - execution.
Maria herself is visibly annoyed that Rachel is going off at her for this. She realises she’s been played. She’s gonna go solo just her and the kids from now on too many snakes in this chat 🐍🐍🐍