852 massimo favilla, ruggero rugolo, and dulcia meijers
Pietro Longhi, who introduced a new kind of family and group portrait
into Venetian art. a comparison between specific works of father and son
is illustrative in this.
the portrait of the Pisani family on view in the accademia and exe-
cuted in 1758 by alessandro Longhi shows three generations of the Pisani
family depicted on a huge canvas that measures 255 × 341 centimeters.
all members look out at us, even the little children. they are surrounded
by allegorical figures in the background. the distinction between the alle-
gorical and the real—albeit idealized—figures has been expressed by a
differentiation in style and color. the work, exceptional for its time period
at least in Venice and in style continuing the late Baroque, shows a strik-
ing resemblance typologically with Veronese’s portrait of the Cucina fam-
ily presented to Mary and the Christ child by personifications of virtue.107
the Pisani may have had this 16th-century work in mind when they gave
alessandro the commission. alessandro’s painting is fully in line with
tiepolo’s stunning ceiling fresco extolling allegorically the Pisani family
in the ballroom of their sumptuous and newly built villa in Stra on the
riviera del Brenta, painted some four years later.108 this villa is visible in
the background of alessandro’s work.
Juxtaposition with a hitherto unidentified family portrait of Pietro’s
hand exhibited in the Ca’ rezzonico shows a world of difference. Prob-
ably painted only a few years earlier, here too three generations posed
for the artist. the modest size (61 × 50 cm) contributes to the intimacy
of the scene. Siblings with their children and parents are seated comfort-
ably together in what looks like an informal room of their palazzo. Very
remarkably, attention is focused on the females in this group, who all look
directly at the viewer, whereas the men play a subordinate role in the
composition. a greater contrast with the portrait of the Pisani family is
not imaginable. Success in society is not being expressed in Pietro’s work;
it rather showcases family togetherness in union and harmony and, very
importantly, it flaunts offspring.
Pietro Longhi received his first training from his father, worked without
much success under the history painter antonio Balestra, and ultimately
found his calling thanks to his apprenticeship in Bologna with the genre
painter Giuseppe Maria Crespi. this was the same painter who deeply
influenced Piazzetta, whom he had had as his pupil 20 years earlier.
107 Dresden, Gemäldegalerie, 1571, 167 × 414 cm.
108 tiepolo’s apotheosis was painted four years later, in 1761–62.