Pietro Longhi, 'A Nobleman kissing a Lady's Hand', about 1746
About the work
Overview
We are looking into a refined room, its walls adorned with paintings in gilded frames and its door obscured by a heavy green curtain. A man in a black robe and white wig, perhaps a Venetian nobleman, bows to a young girl, whose elegant white dress stands out against the vivid green patterned damask. He is about to kiss her hand.
Pietro Longhi has given this scene a sense of intrigue with the male servant who waits patiently to serve a drink and the woman who lingers beside the girl – perhaps her mother. She holds an offering of a pink flower, perhaps symbolising the girl’s beauty or purity.
During the 1730s and 1740s Longhi specialised in capturing the lives and customs of wealthy Venetians, and often included amorous or comical undertones.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Nobleman kissing a Lady's Hand
- Artist
- Pietro Longhi
- Artist dates
- 1701 - 1785
- Date made
- about 1746
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 61.3 × 49.5 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by Mrs Mary Venetia James from the Arthur James collection, 1948
- Inventory number
- NG5852
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1955The National Gallery, The National Gallery: 1938 - 1954, London 1955
-
1956Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1956
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
More works by Pietro Longhi
