Background
Pietro Longhi was born on November 5, 1701 in Venice, Italy. He was the first child of the silversmith Alessandro Falca and his wife, Antonia.
Pietro Longhi was born on November 5, 1701 in Venice, Italy. He was the first child of the silversmith Alessandro Falca and his wife, Antonia.
Longhi was initially taught by the Veronese painter Antonio Balestra. However, later he left Venice for a time and studied at Bologna under the genre painter Giuseppe Maria Crespi.
Longhi began his painting career with history paintings, depicting grand historical themes. He returned to Venice before 1732. After the unsuccessful reception of his painting "Fall of the Giants", he devoted himself to painting everyday scenes from the life of the city’s upper class and bourgeoisie. Among his early paintings are also 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 1750s, Longhi 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.
From 1763 Longhi was director of the Academy of Drawing and Carving. From this period, he began to work extensively with portraiture.
Longhi died on May 8, 1785 in Venice, Italy.
The Ridotto
The Perfume Seller
The Pharmacist
The Masked Visitor
A Shepherd Boy
The Lion's Cage
A Fortune Teller at Venice
The Arrival of the Nobleman
Early Morning Chocolate
The sleeping woman
The Confession
A nobleman kissing lady's hand
The Tooth Extractor
The Parlour
Fresco in San Pantalon in Venice, Scene: Holy Martyr, fragment
Fall of the Giants
The Wet-Nurse
Masked Party in a Courtyard
Rhinoceros in Venice
The Temptation
Portrait of Bishop Benedetto Ganassoni
The Fortune Teller
The Seller of Fritters
A Patrician Family
Portrait of Francesco Guardi
Lady at her Toilette
The Spinner
A Visit to a Lady
A Visit to a Lord
The Washerwomen
The Charlatan
The Hunters Drawing Numbers
The furlana (Venetian dance)
The Indiscreet Gentleman
Friars in Venice
The Alchemists
The 'New World'
Women Sewing
The Spinner
The Fortune Teller
In The Vegetable Garden At The River Mouth
The Awakening for hunting
The Sagredo Family
The Geography Lesson
Visit to a library
The Painter in his Studio
The Letter
Lady at the Dressmaker
Lute Player
The Family Concert
Hunters Shooting at Ducks
A Walk On Horseback
The Concert
The Tailor
Standing Woman Holding a Muff Facing Right
The Duck Hunt
Preparing the Polenta
A Shepherd girl with a basket
The hunters and the farmers
The Dancing Lesson
The Little Concert
The Happy Couple
Presentation
Conversation in the family
Preparing the Guns
Clara the Rhinoceros
The Venetian Ladys Morning
The hairdresser
The Venetian Family
The Sacrament Of Marriage
The Family
Longhi was elected to the Venetian Academy at its foundation in 1756.
Quotes from others about the person
Bernard Berenson: 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.
Pietro Longhi was married in 1732 to Caterina Maria Rizzi, by whom he had eleven children (only three of which reached the age of maturity). One of his sons was Alessandro Longhi who was an accomplished artist in his own right.