(Venice 1701–1785)
A galant visit,
oil on canvas, 59.4 x 47.3 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Prince Alberto Giovanelli (1896–1937), Venice;
thence by descent;
Private collection, Milan, since at least the 1970s

Exhibited:
Venice, Il Palazzo delle Biennali, Il Settecento italiano, 18 July – 10 October 1929, no. 1055 (according to a label on the stretcher)

Literature:
A. Ravà, Pietro Longhi, Florence 1923, illustrated p. 25;
Il Settecento italiano, exhibition catalogue, Venice 1929, possibly p. 87, no. 7 (as Pietro Longhi, ‘Visita galante’);
H. Comstock, The Connoisseur in America. Panels by Pietro Longhi from the Giovanelli Collection, in: The Connoisseur, vol. 97, no. 415, March 1936, mentioned p. 161;
E. Arslan, Di Pietro e Alessandro Longhi, in: Emporium, vol. 8, 1943, p. 62, note 13 (incorrectly listed as in the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence);
F. Valcanover, Affreschi sconosciuti di Pietro Longhi, in: Paragone, vol. VII, no. 73, January 1956, p. 25, note 1;
V. Moschini, Pietro Longhi, Milan 1956, no. 221;
F. Valcanover, under ‘Pietro Longhi’, in: Enciclopedia Universale dell’Arte, Venice/Rome 1958, VIII, p. 686;
F. Valcanover, I maestri del colore. Longhi, Milan 1964, s. p.;
T. Pignatti, Pietro Longhi, Venice 1968, p. 96, pl. 284 (incorrectly listed as in the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence);
T. Pignatti, Aggiunte per Pietro Longhi, in: Arte Illustrata, vol. V, no. 47, January 1972, p. 4, fig. 16;
T. Pignatti, L’opera completa di Pietro Longhi, Milan 1974, p. 102-03, no. 215 (correctly amending the provenance)

The subject of galant visits was depicted by Pietro Longhi on several occasions. From the mid-eighteenth century, these emerged to form proper cycles in which Longhi systematically describes the fashionable and domestic habits of the Venetian aristocracy. They are also precious as a record of furnishing and dress history: Longhi’s scenes take place in the rooms of palaces adorned with damask silks on the walls, as well as mirrors, curtains and fashionable furnishings. Alongside the world of the nobility, Longhi also portrayed scenes from the life of the middle-classes and from popular life: these he likewise injected with liveliness, gamely mischief and light irony. In his paintings we find the same atmosphere as imbues the comedies of Carlo Goldoni, wherein private or intimate scenes unfold in decorous surroundings. A contemporary of Pietro Longhi, Goldoni himself admired the master’s work and dedicated a sonnet to him, in which he signals their shared intent, pointing to Longhi’s pictorial vision as the equivalent to his own theatre.

Pietro Longhi initially studied with Antonio Balestra, thanks to whom he came in contact with the painters of Bologna, including, in particular Giuseppe Maria Crespi. Longhi’s elegant and humorous painting style successfully blends with the tradition of the intimate genre derived from Crespi, making Longhi the Italian equivalent of Watteau, Lancret and Hogarth. Between 1737 and 1773 he was inscribed as a member of the artist’s guild, or Fraglia dei pittori di Venezia, and, from 1756, was also a member of the newly formed Venetian Academy of Painting and Sculpture, presided over by Tiepolo; he was to remain a Professor of the Academy until 1780.

The painting was once a part of the illustrious collection of the well-known collector and patron of the arts, Prince Alberto Giovanelli whose contribution to the cultural life of Venice was of huge significance. Giovanelli founded the Galleria internazionale d’arte moderna through which the lagoon city would develop into one of the most significant centres for international exhibitions in the world. In the first decades of the 20th century, around ten paintings by Pietro Longhi (see literature) were conserved in the Giovanelli Collection.