Title: The Letter
Artist: Pietro Longhi
Year: 1746
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Style/Genre: Rococo
Notes & Analysis of the Artwork
Artist favored contemporary scenes of regular Venetian life.
Full of humor and implication.
- Portrays a light comedic take on the contemporary society.
- Provide an intimate look at 18th century Venice.
Painting depicts the simple act of receiving a letter in a receiving parlor.
- A young girl opens the letter.
- Can be seen in the right portion of the painting.
- Notice her coy glace at the letter bearer
- Older woman and young girl sit by
- They are oblivious of the encounter.
- Can be seen in facial expressions and body language.
- Painting hints at the everyday occurrences of flirting and bourgeois courtship.
- highlighted in use of humor and expressions.
- (story) the letter bearer knowing of who the letter is from, teases the lady.
Color composition and story
The Gray background brings in maturity.
- Place against the letter bearer, it looks like something out a cartoon.
- Kind of like a fox or something.
- Creates a nice contrast against the colored clothing of the women.
- Blends with the dark clothing of the letter bearer.
- Can be connected to the black, sophistication of the bourgeois.
The light pink/white tells of when innocence meets lust.
- The white portion of her dress serves as the innocence.
- The letter and the pink portion of her dress serves as the lust.
- Perfect balance, plays on humor, delivers expression.
The toned-down greens are the colors of the lower-class next to the upper class.
- Creates a type of comforting tone towards the image.
- Worn by the two older women.
- Shows the difference in relationship to the bourgeois and the woman in pink.
- Supports the gray by bringing in maturity.
Chroma Illuminosity 
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