Painting and Merit
ca. 1761
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 16 7/8 × 10 3/16 in. (42.9 × 25.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
Accession Number
28.98.84
Art Historical Context
**Painting and Merit** is a captivating etching by Alessandro Longhi, created around 1761. Longhi, a prominent Venetian artist of the Rococo era (1733–1813) and son of the renowned genre painter Pietro Longhi, excelled in portraiture and printmaking. This work, measuring 16 7/8 × 10 3/16 inches, exemplifies his skill in translating painterly elegance into the precise lines of etching—a technique where acid bites into a metal plate to create intricate, tonal effects ideal for allegory and portraiture. Etchings like this one were revolutionary in the 18th century, enabling artists to produce mu...