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LONGHI, PIETRO (1702-1762)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 981 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LONGHI, PIETRO (1702-1762) , Venetian painter, was See also:born in See also:Venice. He was a See also:pupil of See also:Antonio Palestra and Giuseppe Maria See also:Crespi at See also:Bologna, and devoted himself to the See also:painting of the elegance of the social See also:life in 18th-See also:century Venice. The See also:republic was dying fast, but her sons, even in this See also:period of See also:political decline, retained their love of pageants and ceremonies and of extravagant splendour in attire. The See also:art of Venice was vanishing like her political See also:power; and the only painters who attempted to See also:stem the See also:tide of See also:artistic decadence were the Canaletti, See also:Guardi, See also:Tiepolo and Longhi. But whilst the Canaletti and Guardi dwelt upon the architectural glories of Venice, and Tiepolo applied himself to decorative schemes in which he continued the tradition of See also:Paolo Veronese and See also:Tintoretto, Longhi became the chronicler of the life of his compatriots. In a way his art may be set beside See also:Hogarth's, though the Venetian did not See also:play the See also:part of a satirical moralist. He has aptly been called the See also:Goldoni of painting. His See also:sphere is that of See also:light social See also:comedy—the life at the cafe, the hairdresser's, at the dancing-school, at the dressmaker's. The tragic, or even the serious, See also:note is hardly sounded in his See also:work,which,in its See also:colour,is generally distinguished by a See also:rich mellow quality of See also:tone. Most of his paintings are in the public and private collections of Venice. They are generally on a small See also:scale, but the See also:staircase of the Palazzo Grassi in Venice is decorated by him with seven frescoes, representing scenes of fashionable life. At the Venice See also:academy are a number of his genre pictures and a portrait of the architect Temanza; at the Palazzo Quirini-Stampalia the portrait of Daniele Dolfino, " The Seven Sacraments " (etched by Pitteri), a " Temptation of St See also:Anthony," a " See also:Circus," a " Gambling See also:Scene," and several other genre pictures and portraits; at the Museo Correr a dozen scenes of Venetian life and a portrait of Goldoni.

In See also:

England the See also:National See also:Gallery owns " The See also:Exhibition of a See also:Rhinoceros in an See also:Arena," a " Domestic See also:Group," " The See also:Fortune-See also:Teller," and the portrait of the See also:Chevalier See also:Andrea Tron; two genre pictures are at See also:Hampton See also:Court See also:Palace, and others in the See also:Richter and See also:Mond collections. Many of his See also:works have been engraved by Alessandro Longhi, See also:Bartolozzi, Cattini, Faldoni and others. Longhi died in Venice in 1762.

End of Article: LONGHI, PIETRO (1702-1762)

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