Preparing the Guns 

Pietro Longhi painted ‘Preparing the Guns’ in Venice, though we can’t be sure exactly when. The image shows a group of men carefully cleaning and preparing their firearms. Venice, in Longhi’s time, was famous for its elaborate carnivals, theaters, and a culture of conspicuous consumption among the aristocracy. But there was a darker side to Venetian society: hunting, especially by the nobility, was a privilege linked to power and land ownership, underscoring existing social divisions. Longhi captures this world in his paintings, often with a critical eye. In this artwork, you can see the details of everyday life but what do they tell us about the balance of power in Venice at the time? Who had the right to bear arms, and what did it signify? Answering these questions involves archival research, analysis of period literature, and understanding Venice’s complex institutional structures. Only then can we appreciate the role that paintings like Longhi’s play in the broader cultural narrative.