The Letter

Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca)

1746 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

The Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni praised Longhi’s dedication to truth, by which he meant the artist’s depiction of the foibles of contemporary society. Here a man enters a milliner’s shop not to buy a hat but to elicit sex work from women whose class status has left them vulnerable to wealthier men. Holding out a coin, he negotiates with an older woman for the services of the pretty milliner who pauses her work to read his letter. The reclining mannequin’s head on the table foreshadows the result of their transaction. Longhi’s canvas positions sex work as generational: in the foreground a young girl appraises her doll, paralleling the older woman’s actions.

Artist

Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca)

Date

1746

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Frederick C. Hewitt Fund, 1912