Pietro Longhi

Pietro Longhi
Self-portrait of Longhi
Birth name	Pietro Longhi
Born	November 5, 1701
Died	May 8, 1785(1785-05-08) (aged 83)
Nationality	Italian

Clara the rhinoceros by Pietro Longhi,1751 (Ca' Rezzonico)

La lezione di danza (The Dancing Lesson), ca 1741, Venezia, Gallerie dell'Accademia

The Charlatan, 1757

The Ridotto in Venice, ca. 1750s

Pietro Longhi (1702 or November 5, 1701^[1] – May 8, 1785) was a Venetian painter of contemporary scenes of life.

Biography

Pietro Longhi was born in Venice 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, who then recommended the young painter to apprentice with the Bolognese Giuseppe Maria Crespi,^[2] 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, representing the Death of the giants. In the late 1730s, he began to specialize in the small-scale genre works that would lead him to be viewed in the future as the Venetian William Hogarth, 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 (see image). This painting, on display at the National Gallery in London, chronicles Clara the rhinoceros brought to Europe in 1741 by a Dutch sea captain and impresario from Leyden, Douvemont van der Meer. This rhinoceros was exhibited in Venice in 1751.^[3] There are two versions of this painting, nearly identical except for the unmasked portraits of two men in Ca' Rezzonico version.^[4] 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.

Other paintings chronicle the daily activities such as the gambling parlors (Ridotti) that proliferated in the 18th century.^[5] Nearly half of the figures in his genre paintings are faceless, hidden behind Venetian Carnival masks.^[6] 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.^[7] 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, and was actively assisted by his son, Alessandro. On 8 May 1785, following a short illness, he died, possibly due to a heart attack.

A paraphrase of Bernard Berenson states that "Longhi painted for the Venetians passionate about painting, their daily lives, in all dailiness, domesticity, and quotidian mundane-ness. In the scenes regarding the hairdo and the apparel of the lady, we find the subject of gossip of the inopportune barber, chattering of the maid; in the school of dance, the amiable sound of violins. It is not tragic ... but upholds a deep respect of customs, of great refinement, with an omnipresent good humor distinguishes the paintings of the Longhi from those of Hogarth, at times pitiless and loaded with omens of change".^{[citation needed]}

Masks

In numerous paintings of the 1750s and 1760s, Longhi depicts the upper class as 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 are a woman who is 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.^[8] The woman and her husband are not masked, 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; seen at right) the titular character 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.

Longhi’s portrayal of reality is also evident in his painting The Ridotto in Venice (ca. 1750s; seen at right) which depicts one of the many gambling halls in Venice. The scene is a crowd of figures, masked and unmasked. There is no one focal point in this work; many figures are playing cards and engaging in mysterious conversation. The center of the painting depicts a now familiar scene of a masked couple consisting 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.

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, Venice, Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista
• Fall of the giants, frescoes, Venice, Ca 'Sagredo, 1734,
• Shepherd sitting, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x48, Bassano, Museo Civico
• Pastorello standing, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x48, Bassano, Museo Civico
• Shepherdess with flower, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x48, Bassano, Museo Civico
• Shepherdess with cock, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x48, Bassano, Museo Civico
• Pastorello standing, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x45, Rovigo, Museo del Seminario
• The spinner, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• The Washerwomen, 1740, oil on panel, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• The happy couple, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• The polenta, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• Drinkers, 1740–1745, oil on canvas, 61x48, Milan, Galleria d'Arte Moderna
• The concert, 1741, oil on canvas, 60x48, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia
• The dance class, about 1741, oil on canvas, 60x49, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia
• The tailor, c. 1741, oil on canvas, 60x49, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia
• The toilet, ca 1741, oil on canvas, 60x49, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia
• The presentation, about 1741, oil on canvas, 64x53, Paris, Louvre
• The visit to the library, about 1741, oil on canvas, 59x44, Worcester Art Museum
• Frescoes, 1744, Venice, Church of San Pantalon
• 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, Washington, National Gallery
• The game of the pan, 1744, oil on canvas, 49x61, Washington, National Gallery
• The visit to the lady, 1746, oil on canvas, 61x49, New York, Metropolitan Museum
• Meeting of the Prosecutor and his wife, 1746, oil on canvas, 61x49, New York, Metropolitan Museum
• The visit to the Lord, 1746, oil on canvas, 61x49, New York, New York, Metropolitan Museum
• The milliner, 1746, oil on canvas, 61x49, New York, Metropolitan Museum
• Family group, 1746, oil on canvas, 61x49, London, National Gallery
• The visit of the Prosecutor, c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x49, London, National Gallery
• The Dentist, c.1750, oil on canvas, 50x62, Milan, Brera
• 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, Castle Zoppola, Pordenone
• The spinner, c.1750, oil on canvas, 60x49, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
• The peasant woman asleep, c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
• The seller of fritole, c.1750, oil on canvas, 62x51, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• The rhino, 1751, oil on canvas, 62x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• The rhino, c. 1751, oil on canvas, 60x57, London, National Gallery
• The soothsayer, 1752, oil on canvas, 62x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• The school work, 1752, oil on canvas, 62x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• Geography lesson, 1752, oil on canvas, 61x49, Venice, Fondazione Querini Stampalia.
• The pharmacist, 1752, oil on canvas, 60x48, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia
• The tickle, 1755, oil on canvas, 61x48, Madrid, Thyssen Collection
• Baptism, 1755, oil on canvas, 60x49, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
• The charlatan, 1757, oil on canvas, 62x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• Alchemists, 1757, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• The Card Players, 1760, oil on canvas, 60x47, Milan, Galleria d'Arte Moderna
• The Music Lesson, 1760, oil on copper, 45x58, Baltimore, Walters Art Museum
• Philosopher Pythagoras, 1762, oil on canvas, 130x91, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia
• The cabin of the lion, 1762, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
• Francesco Guardi, 1764, oil on canvas, 132x100, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
• The arrival of the Lord, c.1770, oil on canvas, 62x50, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
• The family Michiel, 1780, oil on canvas, 49x61, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia

Notes

Attribution

 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Longhi, Pietro". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press 

References

• Martineau, Jane, and Andrew Robison (1994). The glory of Venice: art in the 18th century. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06186-2
• Spike, John T (1986). Centro Di, Kimball Museum of Art, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, ed. Giuseppe Maria Crespi and the Emergence of Genre Painting in Italy. pp. 189–206. 
• Pignatti, Terisio (1969). Pietro Longhi: Paintings and Drawings. London: Phaidon Press Ltd.

External links

Media related to Pietro Longhi at Wikimedia Commons

• National Gallery, London
• Pietro Longhi. Paintings