Pietro Longhi

In the setting of a Venetian household, a coquettish young woman prepares to pour more wine for an elderly man who dines alone. A velvet curtain is pulled back to reveal elegant furnishings in an adjacent room. Porcelain dishes are set on a sideboard and a pampered dog dozes while at a slight distance a young man engages the elderly man in conversation. A second young woman looks on from the background. Their relationships are unclear.

Longhi’s subtly humorous depictions of upper-class Venetian social life feature incompletely scripted public and private encounters, which were intended to pique curiosity and stimulate conversations about the motives and outcomes of his subjects.