Updated 09 April 2025
On Display Special Exhibition Wing
On Display
Special Exhibition Wing
The Indiscreet Gentleman
| Date | c. 1740 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
| Size（cm） | 60 x 50 |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1998-0004 |
Pietro Longhi (born Pietro Falca) specialized mainly in pictures of everyday scenes of the rather unstimulating life of 18th century Venice. The way the woman at the centre is posing was inspired by the "louse picking" posture, which was in vogue in those days. While overlapping the image of "picking lice" and this young woman's pose, we cannot help wondering what she is up to and consequently end up glancing in the same manner as the gentlemen in the picture. The maid reproves us for such bad manners. Irrespective of age, sex, or class, Longhi always regarded the humans in a tender manner. Longhi's works show us the 18th century Venetian world in a natural way. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)
Provenance
Palazzo Papadopoli, Venice; Riccio Collection, Florence; with Adrian Ward Jackson, 1977; The Trustees of the British Rail Pension Fund; Purchased by the NMWA, 1999.
Exhibition History
- 2015
- NO MUSEUM, NO LIFE?: Art-Museum Encyclopedia to Come: From the Collections of the National Museums of Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 16 June 2015 - 13 September 2015, cat. no. B-3
- 2017
- History of Costume from the 17 Century to Early 20 Century in France, The Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Art, 22 April 2017 - 27 August 2017, col. repr.
Bibliography
- 1956
- Moschini, V. Pietro Longhi. Milano, 1956, pp. 17-18, fig. 4.
- 1956
- Valcanover, F. Pietro Longhi. Paragone. no. 73, 1956, no. 73, p. 24.
- 1960
- Pallucchini, R. La pittura veneziana del settecento. Venezia-Roma, 1960, p. 181, figs. 462 & 463.
- 1969
- Pignatti, T. Pietro Longhi. London, 1969 (original Italian ed. Venice 1968), p. 75, pl. 85.
- 1974
- Pignatti, T. L'opera completa di Pietro Longhi. Milano, 1974, pp. 89-90, no. 50.
- 2000
- Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 33 (April 1998-March 1999), 2000, Takanashi, Mitsumasa. New Acquisitions. pp. 17-19, List of New Acquisitions. p. 44, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 58, col. repr.
- 2017
- History of Costume from the 17 Century to Early 20 Century in France (exh. cat.). Sakagami, Shinobu, ed. Nagoya, The Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Art, 2017, p. 26, col. repr.