(Venice 1700/02–1785)
Group portrait of a family in an interior
oil on canvas, 62 x 48.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Paris

Private European collection

Literature:
E. Martini, La pittura del settecento veneto, Venice, 1982, p. 545, fig. 277

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original.

Pietro Longhi studied under Antonio Balestra and he is first listed in the Fraglia in 1737 (the Venetian painters’ guild). It was during this period that he moved away from grand historical compositions and began painting the small-scale genre works for which he is renowned (see Oxford Art Dictionary). The lack of dated works throughout his career makes chronological reconstruction of his oeuvre difficult, but it is generally agreed that his earliest works of this nature were scenes of peasant life, such as The Polenta in Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice. In 1741, Longhi signed and dated The Concert in the Academia, Venice, an interior view of Venetian noble life and such fashionable interior scenes as The Concert or The Introduction in the Louvre, Paris, where most or all of the figures are related to events within the picture, which appear to be inspired, at least in part, by 17th-century Dutch genre pictures, which were collected in 18th century Venice.

From the 1740s Longhi continued to paint Venetian interior scenes such as the present work; they are small, almost never show more than one wall and rarely include windows. They are painted in colours that are clear and clean, and they show a deep appreciation for the texture of fabrics, which are occasionally enlivened by flickering splashes of colour. That doll-like figures are a conscious mannerism is indicated not only by the evidence of his earlier history paintings but also by his numerous surviving drawings. These excellent examples of draughtsmanship effortlessly capture the gesture and features of his subjects, some of which were observed from life. He drew in black chalk or pencil heightened with white chalk on light brown or blue-grey paper. His abilities were such that he was instructor to the life class at the Accademia dei Pittori until 1780 and the founder-director of the academy of drawing and engraving at the Palazzo Pisani.

Martini dated the present painting to between 1770 and 1780 (see literature) and in his mature work Longhi produced both peasant scenes and interiors depicting noble life. Longhi was immensely popular in his day; he was celebrated as an outstanding imitator of nature and was even compared favourably to Tiepolo. In a society that constantly looked to its past greatness and whose contemporary art was almost entirely allegorical, his scenes of 18th-century life were a novelty. His work is still appreciated for his charming doll-like interiors, of which the present work is an example. His pictures contain many things, including portraits now unrecognized, which were undoubtedly part of their attraction. They may also hold specific meanings, now obscure, which made them a visual complement to the works of his friend and admirer the playwright Carlo Goldoni (1707–93).