Longhi, Pietro (1702-1785) - The Visit (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC)
Pietro Longhi was a Venetian painter of contemporary scenes of life. He was born in Venice. He adopted the Longhi last name when he began to paint. He was initially taught by Antonio Balestra, who then recommended him to apprentice with the Bolognese Giuseppe Maria Crespi, who was highly regarded in his day. Among his early paintings are some altarpieces and religious themes. In 1734, he completed frescoes in Ca' Sagredo, representing the Death of the giants. Henceforward, his work would lead him to be viewed in the future as the Venetian William Hogarth, painting subjects and events of everyday life. The interior scenes reflect the 18th century's turn towards the private and the bourgeois. Many of his paintings show Venetians at play.
Other paintings chronicle the daily activities such as the gambling parlors that proliferated in the 18th century. 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. Nearly half of the figures in his genre paintings are faceless, hidden behind Venetian Carnival masks.
A paraphrase of Bernard Berenson states that "Longhi painted for the Venetians passionate about painting, their daily lives, in all dailiness, domesticity, and quotidian mundanity. 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 Longhi from those of Hogarth, at times pitiless and loaded with omens of change".
Longhi, Pietro (1702-1785) - The Visit (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC)
Pietro Longhi was a Venetian painter of contemporary scenes of life. He was born in Venice. He adopted the Longhi last name when he began to paint. He was initially taught by Antonio Balestra, who then recommended him to apprentice with the Bolognese Giuseppe Maria Crespi, who was highly regarded in his day. Among his early paintings are some altarpieces and religious themes. In 1734, he completed frescoes in Ca' Sagredo, representing the Death of the giants. Henceforward, his work would lead him to be viewed in the future as the Venetian William Hogarth, painting subjects and events of everyday life. The interior scenes reflect the 18th century's turn towards the private and the bourgeois. Many of his paintings show Venetians at play.
Other paintings chronicle the daily activities such as the gambling parlors that proliferated in the 18th century. 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. Nearly half of the figures in his genre paintings are faceless, hidden behind Venetian Carnival masks.
A paraphrase of Bernard Berenson states that "Longhi painted for the Venetians passionate about painting, their daily lives, in all dailiness, domesticity, and quotidian mundanity. 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 Longhi from those of Hogarth, at times pitiless and loaded with omens of change".