Old Master Paintings Part Two

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Lot 324
  • 324

Alessandro Longhi Venice 1733 - 1813

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Description

  • Alessandro Longhi
  • Portrait of a gentleman, full-length standing, wearing a powder-blue costume and holding a tricorn hat and gloves, the Venetian lagoon beyond
  • oil on canvas

Provenance

Alessandro Brass, Venice, 1941 (as Pietro Longhi);
Thence by descent to Italico Brass, Venice, before 1960 (as Alessandro Longhi);
Thence by descent.

Exhibited

Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Mostra di Pittura Veneziana del Settecento, December 1941, no. 56 (as Pietro Longhi, lent by Alessandro Brass).

Literature

G. Damerini, I pittori veneziani del '700, Bologna 1928, pp. 102-3, reproduced (as Alessandro Longhi; according to Morandotti, under Literature below);
A. Morandotti, Mostra di Pittura Veneziana del Settecento, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, December 1941, p. 58, cat. no. 56, reproduced (as Pietro Longhi);
R. Pallucchini, Pittura veneziana del '700, Venice-Rome 1960, p. 217, reproduced fig. 569 (as Alessandro Longhi);
T. Pignatti, Pietro Longhi, Venice 1968, p. 139, under "Pitture attribuite [a Pietro Longhi]" (as Alessandro Longhi).

Catalogue Note

This painting, which was long considered to be by Pietro Longhi until Pallucchini correctly ascribed it to his son Alessandro, can be dated to the 1780s. The soft blue-grey palette draws a harmonious parallel between the subtle tonalities of the gentleman's costume and those of his surroundings. Though the identity of the sitter is not known his costume and pose would suggest that he is a wealthy gentleman, in all likelihood a member of the Venetian aristocracy.