Subject: sior aristocrat, nobleman
Culture: Venetian
Setting: Venetian republic 18thc
* Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
"Pietro Longhi Italian, 1700/2-1785 'True Portrait of the Elephant' 1774 Oil on canvas ...
Eighteenth-century Venice was at its most picturesque during the extended Carnival season before Ash Wednesday, when fortune-tellers, puppets, tooth pullers, quacks, and exotic animals were featured at side shows. Pietro Longhi's 'true portrait of the elephant brought to Venice in 1774,' as the inscription proclaims, is one of two paintings he made of the famous animal. Here, the artist demonstrates his interest in the activities of Venice's social elite, several of whom are portrayed wearing traditional Carnival masks."
