LONGHI, FAMILY. - Two painters: PIETRO, b. in 1702 in Venice, d. there on 8 May 1785.
After an extremely unsuccessful attempt at monumental painting (Palazzo Sagredo, Venice 1734), he devoted himself almost exclusively to genre painting, depicting scenes of Venetian life with witty and good-natured liveliness, not without some satirical edge, for which he gained a reputation as an anecdotal and superficial painter. A series of his works can be found in Venice, at the Querini Stampalia Gallery (among others the early *Cacce già Donà dalle Rose*), in the Palazzo Rezzonico Museum, at the Accademia, and in the collection of S. Tomà; in Padua at the Civic Museum; in Milan (Brera) and in many other collections. Pietro also left some excellent portraits and very beautiful drawings at the Correr Museum in Venice.
Among his early works, in which the influence of his father’s taste is strongly felt, are the large portrait of the Pisani family (Venice, Bentivoglio d’Arania collection) and that of the Balotin of the Doge in the Belluno Museum. This was followed by numerous other portraits, scattered in public and private collections: of the architect Temanza and of Father Lodoli in the Venetian Galleries (where there is also the essay executed for the Venetian Academy: *La pittura e l'armi*), of Goldoni at the Correr Museum, of an Admiral at the Civic Museum of Padua, etc. In all of them there is a sense of fresh vitality, a sharp wit, and a vividness of color that not even the neoclassical fashion could dampen. Alessandro was also an engraver.