The Temptation

Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca)

1746 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

With remarkable frankness, the arrival of a sex worker and her procuress is announced to a gentleman wearing a dressing gown at his breakfast table. A second cup and saucer suggest that he has anticipated her visit. The intermediary male figure’s ostentatious dress seems not to be Venetian, though his identity remains uncertain. As often in Longhi’s compositions, a painting within the painting—here an erotic mythological subject—clarifies the actions about to take place.

Artist

Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca)

Date

1746

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917