Pietro Longhi (1702 or November 5, 1701 – May 8, 1785) was a Venetian painter of contemporary

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

scenes of life.

Biography

Pietro Longhi was born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

in the parish of Saint Maria, first child of the silversmith Alessandro Falca and his wife, Antonia. He adopted the Longhi last name when he began to paint. He was initially taught by the Veronese painter

Antonio Balestra Antonio Balestra (12 August 1666 – 21 April 1740) was an Italian painter of the Rococo period. Biography Born in Verona, he first apprenticed there with Giovanni Zeffio. By 1690 he moved to Venice, where he worked for three years under Ant ...

, who then recommended the young painter to apprentice with the Bolognese

Giuseppe Maria Crespi Giuseppe Maria Crespi (March 14, 1665 – July 16, 1747), nicknamed Lo Spagnuolo ("The Spaniard"), was an Italian late Baroque painter of the Bolognese School. His eclectic output includes religious paintings and portraits, but he is now most ...

, who was highly regarded in his day for both religious and genre painting and was influenced by the work of Dutch painters. Longhi returned to Venice before 1732. He was married in 1732 to Caterina Maria Rizzi, by whom he had eleven children (only three of which reached the age of maturity). Among his early paintings are some altarpieces and religious themes. His first major documented work was an altarpiece for the church of San Pellegrino in 1732. In 1734, he completed frescoes in the walls and ceiling of the hall in

Ca' Sagredo The Ca' Sagredo is a 14th-century Byzantine-Gothic style palace located on the corner of the Strada Nuova and Campo Santa Sofia, in the sestiere of Cannaregio in central Venice, Italy. It now faces the Grand Canal (Venice), and across the campo fro ...

, representing the ''Death of the giants''. In the late 1730s, he began to specialize in the small-scale

genre work Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

s that would lead him to be viewed in the future as the Venetian

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like ...

, painting subjects and events of everyday life in Venice. Longhi's gallant interior scenes reflect the 18th century's turn towards the private and the bourgeois, and were extremely popular. Many of his paintings show Venetians at play, such as the depiction of the crowd of genteel citizens awkwardly gawking at a freakish Indian

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

. This painting, on display at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, chronicles Clara the rhinoceros brought to Europe in 1741 by a Dutch sea captain and impresario from

Leyden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, Douvemont van der Meer. This rhinoceros was exhibited in Venice in 1751. There are two versions of this painting, nearly identical except for the unmasked portraits of two men in

Ca' Rezzonico Ca' Rezzonico () is a palazzo and art museum on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro ''sestiere'' of Venice, Italy. It is a particularly notable example of the 18th century Venetian baroque and rococo architecture and interior decoration, and disp ...

version. Ultimately, there may be a punning joke to the painting, since the young man on the left holds aloft the sawed-off ''horn'' (metaphor for cuckoldry) of the animal. Perhaps this explains the difference between the unchaperoned women. Ca'_Rezzonico_-_L'atelier_del_pittore_-_Pietro_Longhi

Ca'_Rezzonico_-_L'atelier_del_pittore_-_Pietro_Longhi

Other paintings chronicle the daily activities such as the gambling parlors (''Ridotti'') that proliferated in the 18th century. Nearly half of the figures in his genre paintings are faceless, hidden behind Venetian Carnival masks. In some, the insecure or naive posture and circumstance, the puppet-like delicacy of the persons, seem to suggest a satirical perspective of the artists toward his subjects. That this puppet-like quality was an intentional conceit on Longhi's part is attested by the skillful rendering of figures in his earlier history paintings and in his drawings. Longhi's many drawings, typically in black chalk or pencil heightened with white chalk on colored paper, were often done for their own sake, rather than as studies for paintings. In the 1750s, Longhi—like Crespi before him—was commissioned to paint seven canvases documenting the seven Catholic sacraments. These are now in Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia along with his scenes from the hunt (''Caccia''). From 1763 Longhi was Director of the Academy of Drawing and Carving. From this period, he began to work extensively with

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

, and was actively assisted by his son,

Alessandro Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Alessandro * Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter * Alessandro Baricco ...

. Longhi died on 8 May 1785, following a short illness.

Legacy

Celebrated

canvases were produced by other contemporary artists in Italy such as Gaspare Traversi and

. Longhi had not only departed the world of grand mythology of history that often allured the Venetian nobility, but also taken residence in its intimate present, as few painters in Venice had ever done. If

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of city views or ...

and

Guardi Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of ...

are our window to the external rituals of the republic, Longhi is our window to what happened inside rooms. The critic

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large ...

states that:

Longhi painted for the picture-loving Venetians their own lives in all their ordinary domestic and fashionable phases. In the hair-dressing scenes, we hear the gossip of the periwigged barber; in the dressmaking scenes, the chatter of the maid; in the dancing-school, the pleasant music of the violin. There is no tragic note anywhere. Everybody dresses, dances, makes bows, takes coffee, as if there were nothing else in the world that wanted doing. A tone of high courtesy, of great refinement, coupled with an all-pervading cheerfulness, distinguishes Longhi's pictures from the works of Hogarth, at once so brutal and so full of presage of change.

Masks

In numerous paintings, Longhi depicts masked figures engaging in various acts from gambling to flirting. For example, in the foreground of Longhi's painting ''The Meeting of the Procuratore and His Wife'' is a woman being greeted by a man that is presumed to be her husband. The setting is of a type of gathering place usually for masked people to engage in private matters such as romantic encounters. The woman and her husband are unmasked, but at the left, a seated woman is unmasking herself to address a masked man leaning over her shoulder. This act may suggest that the woman's Moretta mask, which lacks an opening for the mouth, requires her to unmask herself in order to speak; another interpretation is that the woman is interested enough in the masked man to remove her mask in order to reveal her true identity to him. In ''The Charlatan'' (1757) the

charlatan A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. Synonyms for ''charlatan'' include '' ...

is relegated to the background, where he stands on top of a table surrounded by admiring women and a young boy. In the foreground, a masked woman seems to fiddle with her fan and slyly look at a masked man who lifts part of her dress. There is a sense of duality as the ordinary event of the man on the top of the table is contrasted with the reality of Venetian life represented by the couple indulging themselves; this is similar to the duality of the mask used by his subjects to hide physically, but to expose their unconscious desires. Pietro-longhi-ridotto

In ''The Ridotto in Venice'' (ca. 1750s), Longhi depicts one of the main gambling halls in Venice. The scene is crowded with masked and unmasked figures. The focal point in this work depicts a now-familiar scene of a shy woman and an aggressive man who lifts her dress. Repeating the figures of the flirtatious couple, Longhi displays the Ridotto as a place where the social elite— who would not exhibit such behavior in public nor unmasked—would abandon all inhibitions and pursue their actual desires.

Gallery

File:Ca' Rezzonico - La Polenta - Pietro Longhi.jpg, ''La Polenta'' (1740) File:Accademia - Il concertino - Pietro Longhi.jpg, ''Il concertino (The concert)'' (1741) File:Pietro Longhi 027.jpg, ''The Faint'' (c. 1744) File:"Pentolaccia" game by Pietro Longhi.jpg, ''The Game of the Cooking Pot'' (c. 1744) File:The Painter by Pietro Longhi,Cantor Art Center.jpg, ''The Painter'' (between 1750 and 1759) File:Ca'_Rezzonico_-_Il_concertino_in_famiglia_-_Pietro_Longhi.jpg, ''Il concertino in famiglia (The family concert)'' (1752) File:Ca' Rezzonico - L'indovina 1752 - Pietro Longhi.jpg, ''L'indovina Devineresse (The fortune teller)'' (1752) File:Ca' Rezzonico - La venditrice di frittole - Pietro longhi 1755.jpg, ''La venditrice di frittole (The frittole seller)'' (1755) File:Convitto in casa Nani alla Giudecca.jpg, Banquett at the Casa Nani alla Giudecca in Venice in honour of the Elector-Archbishop of Cologne Clemens-August of Wittelsbach on September 9, 1755 File:Ca' Rezzonico - Gli alchimisti 1757 - Pietro Longhi.jpg, ''The Alchemists'' (1757) File:Ca' Rezzonico - La visita al convento - Pietro Longhi.jpg, ''The visit to the convent'' (1760) File:Pietro Longhi - Venetian family portrait.jpg, ''Portrait of a Venetian Family'' (1760–1765) File:Pietro Longhi 024.jpg, ''Il casotto del leone'' (1762) Querini Da Ponte-Pietro Longhi-Musee du Louvre.jpg, ''Portrait of Matilde Querini da Ponte'' (1772) File:Ca' Rezzonico - La cioccolata del mattino - Pietro Longhi.jpg, ''La cioccolata del mattino (The Morning Chocolate)'' (from 1775 until 1780)

Works

* ''San Pellegrino sentenced to execution'', 1730–1732, oil on canvas, 400x340, parish church of San Pellegrino * ''Adoration of the Magi'', 1730–1732, oil on canvas, 190x150, Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice * ''Fall of the giants'' (1734) frescoes, Ca' Sagredo, Venice * ''Shepherd sitting'', (1740) oil on canvas, 61x48, Museo Civico, Bassano * ''Pastorello standing'', (1740) oil on canvas, 61x48, Museo Civico, Bassano * ''Shepherdess with flower'', (1740) oil on canvas, 61x48, Museo Civico, Bassano * ''Shepherdess with cock'', (1740) oil on canvas, 61x48, Museo Civico, Bassano * ''Pastorello standing'', (1740) oil on canvas, 61x45, Museo del Seminario, Rovigo * ''The spinner'', (1740) oil on canvas, 61x50,

, Venice * ''The Washerwomen'', (1740) oil on panel, 61x50,

, Venice * ''The happy couple'', (1740) oil on canvas, 61x50,

, Venice * ''The polenta'', (1740) oil on canvas, 61x50,

, Venice * ''Drinkers'', 1740–1745, oil on canvas, 61x48, Milan, Galleria d'Arte Moderna * ''The concert'', (1741) oil on canvas, 60x48,

Accademia, Venice The Gallerie dell'Accademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro. It was originally the gallery ...

* ''The dance class'', (c. 1741) oil on canvas, 60x49,

* ''The tailor'', (c. 1741) oil on canvas, 60x49,

* ''The toilet'', (c. 1741) oil on canvas, 60x49,

* ''The presentation'', (c. 1741) oil on canvas, 64x53,

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, Paris * ''The visit to the library'', (c. 1741) oil on canvas, 59x44,

Worcester Art Museum The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ranks among th ...

, Massachusetts * ''Frescoes'', (1744) Venice, Church of

San Pantalon The Chiesa di San Pantaleone Martire, known as San Pantalon in the Venetian dialect, is a church in the Dorsoduro ''sestiere'' of Venice, Italy. It is located on the Campo San Pantalon (square), and is dedicated to Saint Pantaleon. The 17th-centu ...

, Venice * ''The awakening of the knight'', (1744) oil on canvas, 49x60, Windsor, royal collections * ''The blindman's buff'', (1744) oil on canvas, 48x58, Windsor, royal collections * ''Fainting'', (1744) oil on canvas, 49x61, National Gallery, Washington DC * ''The game of the pan'', (1744) oil on canvas, 49x61, National Gallery, Washington DC * ''The visit to the lady'', (1746) oil on canvas, 61x49, Metropolitan Museum, New York * ''Meeting of the Prosecutor and his wife'', 1746, oil on canvas, 61x49, Metropolitan Museum, New York * ''The visit to the Lord'', (1746) oil on canvas, 61x49, Metropolitan Museum, New York * ''The milliner'', (1746) oil on canvas, 61x49, New York, Metropolitan Museum * ''Family group'', (1746) oil on canvas, 61x49, National Gallery, London * ''The visit of the Prosecutor'', c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x49, National Gallery, London * ''The Dentist'', c.1750, oil on canvas, 50x62, Brera, Milan * ''The laundresses'', c. 1750, oil on canvas, 61x50, Castle Zoppola, Pordenone * ''The polenta'', c.1750, oil on canvas, 60x50, Castle Zoppola, Pordenone * ''The spinner'', c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x50, Castle Zoppola, Pordenone * ''Drunks'', c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x50, Castello Zoppola, Pordenone * ''The spinner'', c.1750, oil on canvas, 60x49, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice * ''The peasant woman asleep'', c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x50, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice * ''The seller of fritole'', c.1750, oil on canvas, 62x51,

, Venice * ''The rhino'', (1751) oil on canvas, 62x50,

, Venice * ''The rhino'', c. 1751, oil on canvas, 60x57, National Gallery, London * ''The soothsayer'', (1752) oil on canvas, 62x50,

, Venice * ''The school work'', (1752) oil on canvas, 62x50,

, Venice * ''Geography lesson'', (1752) oil on canvas, 61x49, Venice, Fondazione Querini Stampalia. * ''The pharmacist'', (1752) oil on canvas, 60x48,

* ''The tickle'', (1755) oil on canvas, 61x48,

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...

, Madrid * ''Baptism'', (1755) oil on canvas, 60x49, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice * ''The charlatan'', (1757) oil on canvas, 62x50,

, Venice * ''Alchemists'', (1757) oil on canvas, 61x50,

, Venice * ''The Card Players'', 1760, oil on canvas, 60x47, Milan, Galleria d'Arte Moderna * ''The Music Lesson'', 1760, oil on copper, 45x58,

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

, Baltimore * ''Philosopher Pythagoras'', 1762, oil on canvas, 130x91,

* ''The cabin of the lion'', 1762, oil on canvas, 61x50, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice * ''Francesco Guardi'', 1764, oil on canvas, 132x100,

, Venice * ''The arrival of the Lord'', c.1770, oil on canvas, 62x50, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice * ''The family Michiel'', (1780) oil on canvas, 49x61, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice * Other works are in Art Institute of Chicago; Ashmolean Museum,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

;

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Si ...

, Passadena (California); and

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

;Collection Rijksmuseum
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Notes

;Attribution

References

*Martineau, Jane, and Andrew Robison (1994). ''The glory of Venice: art in the 18th century''. London: Yale University Press. * *Pignatti, Terisio (1969). ''Pietro Longhi: Paintings and Drawings''. London: Phaidon Press Ltd.

External links

National Gallery, LondonPietro Longhi. Paintings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longhi, Pietro 1701 births 1785 deaths 18th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Venice Italian genre painters 18th-century Italian male artists