Pietro Longhi painted small interior scenes recording everyday life in eighteenth-century Venice, often with a trace of gentle irony. A lady with her own hair or wig powered white, and wearing a dress with elaborate laces and wide sleeves, is receiving a cavalier.  

▲ Pietro Longhi, "A Lady receiving a Cavalier" 1745-55, Oil on canvas, 61.5 x 50.7 cm, The National Gallery, London, Bequeathed by Mrs Mary Venetia James from the Arthur James collection, 1948, NG 5841, Photo by SayArt Sims green.
She has no interest in her sewing work. Her behaviour contrasts with the virtuous diligence of her servants to whom, as their social superior, she should set a good example. This type of painting satirizing the amoral behaviour of the upper classes was popular in eighteenth-century Europe.

Sayart.net 

Sayart, sayart2022@gmail.com