1782
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A Procession of Triumphal Cars in the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Celebrating the Visit of the Conti del Nord (recto) is a 1782 by Francesco Guardi, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a busy square packed with gilded carriages, crowds in fancy dress, and flags fluttering against grand buildings. This sketch was made in 1782 when Russian royalty visited Venice. The city paid Guardi to record the party, so the drawing is like an official news photo—quick, lively, and full of tiny real details. Look at the way the light bounces off the wet pavement; it feels like you’re standing right there. If you like this kind of street scene, try searching more works under the subject italy, venice.
This drawing records a grand procession through Venice's Piazza San Marco on the penultimate day of the 1782 celebrations for the visit of the Russian Grand Duke Paul (Pavel) Petrovitch and his wife Maria Feodorovna. Francesco Guardi was likely commissioned by the Venetian state to document the ducal visit. Drawing from the vantage point of the Procuratie Nuove (a palace on one side of the piazza), Guardi sketched five carriages festooned with allegories, which were meant to celebrate the governments of Catherine the Great and Venice. In order to include as much of the procession as possible,…
Before entering the museum's collection, this sheet may have been cut on the left, possibly to eliminate a sixth carriage that does not appear in Guardi’s other representations of the procession.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (Italian pronunciation: ; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School.
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