The Painter in His Studio
(5000-2009)

Pietro Longhi depicts the act of painting as an intimate scene of contemporary life. Longhi invites the viewer into a painter's studio, where the artist, surrounded by an array of his tools and props, creates a faithful likeness of a typical Venetian lady sitting for her portrait. Her costumed companion has removed his mask, which allowed him to pass incognito in public during the free-spirited months of Carnival.

Oil on canvas (about 1741-1744)

by Pietro Longhi (Italian, 1701-1785)