Francesco BARTOLOZZI
(1727 Florence – 1815 Lisbon)
The Singing Lesson – c.1751
Etching and engraving after Pietro Longhi (1701 - Venice - 1785). Published by Giuseppe Wagner (c.1705-86). Watermark: Three Moons.
Size of sheet: 54 x 45 cm.
Le Blanc 650; De Vesme & Calabi No.1333 (I/II); E.Bouvy 1930 (ill.p.119); G. Marini, 1994 (fig.220); A. Mariunz et al, 1993, cat.93.
Francesco Bartolozzi: The Singing Lesson
From a series of eight plates depicting the daily life in Venice published by Wagner; the first four were engraved by Charles Flipart in 1748 to popularize Longhi’s new interest in genre scenes of Venetian interiors. This is a unique series among Italian prints of the 18th century which focused on fashion and interiors of contemporary Venetians, almost 30 years before a famous series ‘Le Monument du Costume’ by Jean Michel Moreau le Jeune.
Our engraving is after a lost painting by Longhi. It was executed by Francesco Bartolozzi, the Florentine engraver who, demonstrating from an early age a natural vocation for engraving and etching, had joined Wagner's engraving team in 1748. This can be dated to 1750/51, when Flapart had already left Venice for Spain and Bartolozzi had evidently taken over from him to complete the series of Wagner's Longhi engravings. Additionally, the date is demonstrated by the presence, in the correct position, that is, within the margins of the engraving, of the initials C.P.E.S. (Cum Privilegio Excellentissimae Signoriae) which indicates the privilege requested by Wagner in 1749 for all the prints that came out of his engraving workshop, which had been granted to him in 1750.
Our engraving by Bartolozzi is one of the artist's first Venetian works.