In 1763 an Academy for the study of the arts of design was opened by
some members of the Pisani family in their palace at S. Stefano. The
chiefs of that patrician house were four sons of the late Doge Alvise
Pisani. According to Lazari, my sole authority for this passage in
Longhi's biography, the founder of the Academy was a Procuratore di S.
Marco, who had a son of remarkable promise. This son he wished to
instruct in the fine arts; and Pietro Longhi was chosen to fill the
chair of painting, which he occupied for two years. At the end of that
time young Pisani died, and the institution was closed--now that the
hopes which led to its foundation were extinguished.[94]
Among the few facts of Longhi's life this connection with the Pisani
Academy has to be recorded. It is also of some importance in helping us
to decide whether a large portrait-picture, representing the chiefs of
the Pisani family, together with the wife and children of one of its
most eminent members (Luigi, a godchild of Louis XIV.), is rightly
ascribed to him. The huge canvas, which is now in the possession of the
Contessa Evelina Almoro Pisani, was found by her rolled up and hidden
away in a cabinet beneath the grand staircase of the Palazzo Pisani at
S. Stefano.[95] It proved to be in excellent preservation; and it is
signed in large clear text letters--_opus Petri Longi_. So far there
would seem to be no doubt that the picture is genuine; and I, for my
part, am prepared to accept it as such, when I consider that Longhi
enjoyed the confidence of the Pisani family and presided over their
Academy about the period when it was executed. Yet the student of his
works cannot fail to be struck by marked differences of style between
this and other authentic pictures from his hand.
The central group consists of the noble Lady Paolina Gambara, wife of
Luigi Pisani, seated with her children round her.[96] Her husband stands
behind, together with his three brothers and an intimate friend of the
house. Allegorical figures representing the arts and sciences complete
the composition. In the distance is seen the princely palace of Stra
upon the Brenta, which was designed in part by one of the Pisani
brothers. The arrangement of these inter-connected groups is excellent;
the characterisation of the several heads, admirable; the drawing, firm
and accurate; and the whole scene is bathed in a glow of roseate colour
which seems actually to radiate light. Longhi, so far as I am aware,
produced nothing in the same style as this complicated masterpiece of
portraiture and allegorical suggestion. In conception, execution, and
scheme of colour, it reminds us of a French painter; and if he had left
a series of such works, he might have deserved what now seems the
inappropriate title of the Venetian Boucher.
I cannot pretend to have seen more than a small portion of Longhi's
pictures. But this portrait of the Pisani family detaches itself as
something in a different key of feeling and of workmanship from any with
which I am acquainted. Admirers of his art should not fail to pay it the
attention it deserves; and if the day comes when a thorough study of
this interesting master shall be made, it is not impossible that genuine
paintings in the same manner may be discovered.