On the loggia of the Doge's Palace in Venice, with the Chiesa della Salute in the background, the beautiful Maria, in revenge for her lover's betrayal, is about to report him as a conspirator to the court of the Inquisition, hesitantly inserting the letter of accusation into the "mouth fatale ”of anonymous reports. The scene is part of a group of three works dedicated to the theme of revenge for love, for which Hayez had been recommended and supported by his friend the poet Andrea Maffei. The secret accusation entered the collection of Giuseppe Marozzi from Pavia together with The Lady of Monza commissioned from Molteni: equipped with the same rich frame, they are extraordinary examples of the very high conception of "literary" painting of the two protagonists of the Milanese art scene of the mid-nineteenth century . The secret accusation stands out from the formal point of view for a refined luministic and chromatic analysis, for the absolute skill in the rendering of the green satin dress, and of the details, as of the mask, but also for the psychological introspection and the representation of conflicting feelings. The face furrowed with tears is the visible sign of her inner drama, of the conflicting feelings of love and hate she feels for the lover who betrayed her. The composition is characterized by the wise formal solutions of Hayez, champion of Romanticism, such as the scenographic cut of the architectural and landscape setting, the representation of the tormented face of the woman, the virtuosic rendering of the fabrics, the transparency of the black veil and the preciousness of the silk. iridescent dress, the impeccable use of light and backlight. For this reason, it is one of the symbolic works of the Civic Museums of Pavia.