The Hand Kisser

The Hand Kisser is an  artwork realized by an unknown Painter Center Italy.

Oil on Canvas, Early 19th Century. Copy of an earlier painting, probably late 17th Century.

Light and dark  accentuated on the faces and the uncovered areas of the bodies, which break up the general two-dimensionality of the painting.

Cm. 208 x 208. Good condition.

A man dressed in period clothing rests his mouth on the hand of an armed man. At the same time he holds a woman's hand behind him. Around other soldiers and, lower right, two children who seem to be offering gifts of gold and jewels. 

We don't have much news about this canvas, and about who the characters represented are. However, we know that the hand kissing gesture is a timeless act that has very ancient origins.

History has told us many of them over the centuries, from the hand kisses in the eighteenth-century courts of Pietro Longhi, passing through the etchings of Manon Lescaut, and the iconic one of John Barrymore to Martha Mansfield.

It was born as a gesture of courtesy and chivalry towards ladies around 1500, and then spread to all European courts. It becomes a gesture of reverence and respect also for Kings, princes and obviously Popes.

In the canvas in question, we do not know the reason for this kiss, whether it is an act of thanks or simply of respect.

Is the man asking for the girl's hand? Or is he perhaps thanking the knight for saving her?

We don't know, but it's interesting to imagine why and make a good story out of it, remembering how important this gesture, now almost completely lost, was for men of the past.