c. 1750

The Pharmacy

Italian, 1727 - 1815

Scholars have continually debated the subject of the painting by Longhi, which now hangs in the Academy of Venice, on which this engraving is based. While the work is here called The Pharmacy, alternative interpretations of the scene, shown taking place inside an eighteenth-century Venetian pharmacy, include: a pharmacist treating a singer's vocal difficulties by applying a salve, and a doctor applying an antisyphilitic remedy to a young prostitute.