Artwork
The Letter
The Letter is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Pietro Longhi. It dates from 1746 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition includes elements of sleep and reading, emphasizing the private, everyday activities of a Venetian household.
The work titled The Letter, painted by Pietro Longhi in 1746, presents a domestic interior in which a woman is engaged in reading a letter while a child plays with a doll; additional figures-a man, a girl, and assorted household items such as laundry-occupy the space. The composition includes elements of sleep and reading, emphasizing the private, everyday activities of a Venetian household. By arranging these details within a single room, Longhi documents the material culture and social relations of the period, using the act of correspondence and the presence of a doll to suggest themes of communication, familial care, and the domestic sphere.
Technique & Style
The Letter is an oil painting on canvas by Pietro Longhi, executed in 1746. The work measures 61 centimeters in height by 49.5 centimeters in width, a modest scale suited to its intimate domestic subject matter. Rendered in oil paint, the composition depicts an interior scene populated by figures including a woman, child, girl, and man, along with details such as a doll, laundry, and elements suggesting reading and sleep.
The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The modest dimensions and oil-on-canvas support are consistent with Longhi's characteristic small-format genre scenes of Venetian domestic life, allowing for close observation of interior detail and human interaction.
History & Provenance
Pietro Longhi's The Letter was painted in 1746, a dating established by both museum records and Wikidata documentation. The work appears to have been produced as an independent painting rather than a commission, with no evidence linking it to a specific patron. It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it is recorded among the European paintings holdings; the specific accession number is not disclosed in the available documentation.
Earlier ownership history is undocumented, and the consulted exhibition records do not list the painting in major traveling or institutional exhibitions, its public presence being limited to the museum's permanent display.
Overview
Pietro Longhi's 18th-century oil painting, The Letter, captures an intimate domestic scene. Within a dimly lit interior, several figures engage in quiet contemplation. A woman in a pink dress sits absorbed in thought, while another in green rests her head at a table.
A man and a young girl, holding a green box, complete the group, contributing to the painting's subdued atmosphere.
Context
As an Italian artist of the 18th century, Pietro Longhi was recognized for his genre paintings, which offered glimpses into the daily routines and social interactions of Venetian society. The Letter exemplifies this characteristic, presenting a private moment rather than a public spectacle. Such works provided a window into the domestic sphere, contrasting with the more dramatic or idealized subjects prevalent in other artistic traditions of the era.
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