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Panaromic View of the Bacino di San Marco, Looking up the Giudecca Canal

1780–93
Not on view
Francesco Guardi succeeded Canaletto as the leading view painter in Venice in the second half of the eighteenth century. A prolific draftsman, his early drawings owe a debt to Canaletto's topographical style, while later sheets show a greater sensitivity to the changing light and atmosphere. Considered one of Guardi's "most beautiful and ambitious drawings," this expansive cityscape creates a broad perspective with an economy of lively brush and pen lines. The Giudecca Island is shown on the left, while Santa Maria della Salute and the entrance to the Grand Canal appear at right. A regatta is in progress. Although rendered at a distance in perspectival scale, many historic monuments are readily identified in the frieze of Venetian architecture. As no single vantage point could take in such an amplified vista, Guardi seems to have incorporated elements from several earlier topographical studies. The Lehman drawing was preparatory to Guardi's late painting of the subject ("Regatta in the Bacino di San Marco", Alte Pinakothek, Munich), its parading gondolas also suitably festooned in festival regalia.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Panaromic View of the Bacino di San Marco, Looking up the Giudecca Canal
  • Artist: Francesco Guardi (Italian, Venice 1712–1793 Venice)
  • Date: 1780–93
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink, light brown wash, on two sheets of paper, joined.
  • Dimensions: 13 3/4 x 26 5/8 in. (34.9 x 67.6 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.342
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

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Canaletto-style frame (pair with 1975.1.2207), Poplar, Italian, Veneto
Canaletto-style frame (pair with 1975.1.2207)
Italian, Veneto
mid-18th century
Capriccio with Roman Ruins, Francesco Guardi Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over graphite; framing lines in pen and brown ink drawn by the artist; sheet glued onto secondary paper support
Capriccio with Roman Ruins
Francesco Guardi
18th century
The Arcade of the Libreria, Looking Toward San Giorgio Maggiore, Francesco Guardi Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash
The Arcade of the Libreria, Looking Toward San Giorgio Maggiore
Francesco Guardi
1712–93
Lagoon Capriccio with an Obelisk, Francesco Guardi Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk
Lagoon Capriccio with an Obelisk
Francesco Guardi
ca. 1750–70
View of Piazza with Basilica of San Marco, Francesco Guardi Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash. Framing lines in pen and brown ink at left and right margins. Pricked for transfer
View of Piazza with Basilica of San Marco
Francesco Guardi
1712–93

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