band stands
behind, together with his three brothers and an intimate friend of the
house. Allegorical figures representing the arts and sciences complete
the composition. In the distance is seen the princely palace of Stra
upon the Brenta, which was designed in part by one of the Pisani
brothers. The arrangement of these inter-connected groups is excellent;
the characterisation of the several heads, admirable; the drawing, firm
and accurate; and the whole scene is bathed in a glow of roseate colour
which seems actually to radiate light. Longhi, so far as I am aware,
produced nothing in the same style as this complicated masterpiece of
portraiture and allegorical suggestion. In conception, execution, and
scheme of colour, it reminds us of a French painter; and if he had left
a series of such works, he might have deserved what now seems the
inappropriate title of the Venetian Boucher.

I cannot pretend to have seen more than a small portion of Longhi's
pictures. But this portrait of the Pisani family detaches itself as
something in a different key of feeling and of workmanship from any with
which I am acquainted. Admirers of his art should not fail to pay it the
attention it deserves; and if the day comes when a thorough study of
this interesting master shall be made, it is not impossible that genuine
paintings in the same manner may be discovered.

VII.

A series of frescoes attributed to Pietro Longhi should also here be
mentioned. They decorate three sides of the staircase of the Palazzo
Sina (formerly Grassi) on the Grand Canal. The balustrades of an open
loggia or gallery are painted with bold architectural relief. Behind the
pilasters of this balcony a motley company of life-sized figures
promenade or stand about in groups. Some are entering in Carnival
costume, with masks and long mantles. Others wear the gala dress of the
last century. Elderly ladies are draped in the black zendado of Venetian
aristocracy. Grave senators bend their courtly heads beneath the weight
of snowy periwigs. Lacqueys in livery and running footmen in Albanian
costume wait upon the guests, handing chocolate or wines on silver
trays. This scene of fashionable life is depicted with vivacity; the
studies of face and attitude are true to nature; an agreeable air of
good tone and sober animation pervades the whole society. Probably many
of the persons introduced were copied from the life; for it is reported
of Longhi that one of his greatest