The Venetian painter Pietro Longhi was born on this day in 1701. His genre scenes have a charm all their own, with their muted tones, their quality of stillness, the oddly stiff figures, faces hidden or vaguely smiling, the mingled air of amiable comedy and quiet sadness (as in Domenico Tiepolo's Punchinello scenes). Longhi's pictures minutely catalogue the everyday activities (or inactivities) of a society fascinated by itself, turned in on itself, living through the long hedonistic afterglow of Venice's greatness (see Browning). Too accomplished a painter to be a naif, too good-humoured to be the 'Venetian Hogarth', Longhi is just Longhi. And that rhinoceros, by the way, is the celebrity rhino Clara, who had quite a life...
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Any Excuse for a Venetian Painting
The Venetian painter Pietro Longhi was born on this day in 1701. His genre scenes have a charm all their own, with their muted tones, their quality of stillness, the oddly stiff figures, faces hidden or vaguely smiling, the mingled air of amiable comedy and quiet sadness (as in Domenico Tiepolo's Punchinello scenes). Longhi's pictures minutely catalogue the everyday activities (or inactivities) of a society fascinated by itself, turned in on itself, living through the long hedonistic afterglow of Venice's greatness (see Browning). Too accomplished a painter to be a naif, too good-humoured to be the 'Venetian Hogarth', Longhi is just Longhi. And that rhinoceros, by the way, is the celebrity rhino Clara, who had quite a life...
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Sinister, those chaps in the Eyes Wide Shut/Salieri masks.
ReplyDeleteClara was a rhino, Nige. You don't get that armour-plating on a hippo.
ReplyDeleteOf course she was! Thanks Sophie.
ReplyDeleteBut what is a rhino, other than an armour-plated hippo?
ReplyDeleteI ask rhetorically.
They're actually the same creature. Hippos are a developmental stage of the rhino. Sort of tadpole-equivalents.
ReplyDeleteClara sounds engaging and much loved but that painting makes me wonder if Longhi himself ever saw her. Indian rhinos are big beasts but the one shown here isn't much more than the size of a large pig. Hmmn ... But maybe as with miniature pigs, specially bred miniature rhinos small enough to be coaxed into the back a Range Rover will soon be a must-have celebrity item.
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