The painting "The Kiss" was created in 1859 by the Italian artist Francesco Hayez and depicts a passionate kiss between two characters from the Middle Ages to convey love, passion, and emotion through their gestures and poses. Hayez was born in Venice in 1791 and became a renowned romantic painter after winning a competition from the Venetian academy in 1809, though he spent much of his career in Milan after leaving Rome in 1814. Some of Hayez's other notable paintings include "Odalisque", "Meditation on the History of Italy", and an early "Family Portrait".