I Risveglio della dama - Lot 65

I Risveglio della dama Venetian or French school, after PIETRO LONGHI (1701-1785) Il Risveglio della dama Oil on canvas 42.5 x 33.5 cm Related work: - Pietro Longhi, I risveglio della dama, oil on canvas, 60.2 x 48.9 cm, private collection, current location unknown, Christie's New York sale, October 14, 2021, lot 51, sold for $100,000. - Charles-Joseph Flipart (1721-1797), Le lever, engraving, 45 x 34.6 cm. London, British Museum, inv. 1951,0714.141 This colorful depiction of Venetian high society life includes all the elements that give Pietro Longhi's works their enduring appeal: an elegant setting, a touch of humor and, above all, a suggestive, slightly risqué subject. Until the last decade, Il risveglio della dama was known only from a reverse engraving by Charles-Joseph Flipart, produced around 1747-1748. A number of reverse copies were known to exist, one of which, made by the so-called Maestro dei Riflessi, is now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, and the other in the Salom Collection, Segromigno Monte, in horizontal format (T. Pignatti, Pietro Longhi, Venice, 1968, figs. 473 and 478). Our painting is a further addition to this list. Numerous preparatory drawings by Longhi survive today, including three for the figures finally realized here. Longhi's Seated Gentleman (fig. 1; Museo Correr, Venice, inv. no. 563) bears witness to the artist's experimentation, as he drew the gentleman both with and without his newspaper, and clearly determined that the inclusion of the latter would more accurately suggest the woman's ability to distract him from his thankless tasks. Two other preparatory drawings, one for the central lady's legs and drapery and the other for her ladies-in-waiting, are also in Venice's Museo Correr (inv. nos. 562 and 561 respectively). Rising from her bed in the center of the composition, an elegant young woman coquettishly calls out to the viewer, while servants help her dress and prepare a bath for her in a silver basin. The atmosphere of luxury and idleness is reinforced by the silhouette of a gentleman, in silk robe and slippers, lounging in an armchair. Although he holds the morning paper in his hand, his attention has clearly been diverted by the glances of his pretty companion, who, in turn, is perfectly aware of his audience. Neither seems in any hurry to leave the comfort of the bedroom for the outside world - the gentleman's black cape and wig rest on their stand in the background, and his stockings slide lazily down his legs. On the wall above the bed, a small grisaille of a classical nude also alludes to the power of feminine beauty. Flipart's engraving was accompanied by this poem: Sorta fior delle piume ancor ammira /La propria sposa il Cavalier gentile. Ma se la gloria un nuovo ardor gl'ispira /Di tal ozio arrossisce, ed hallo a vile. "Rising from the feathers, he still admires / His own wife, the gentle knight, / But if glory inspires a new ardor / From such idleness, he blushes, and feels vile."