1760
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Dominant colour
The Grand Canal, Venice is a 1760 oil by Francesco Guardi, a Rococo painting work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a bustling scene of the Grand Canal in Venice. The painting shows boats and buildings in the late afternoon. It's interesting because Guardi didn't start painting scenes like this until he was older, and he was influenced by other artists who painted Venice. You can look up the technique of chiaroscuro to learn more about how artists like Guardi used light and dark to create depth in their paintings.
Although he did not begin to paint views ( vedute ) until he was in his mid-40s, Francesco Guardi soon became an accomplished practitioner in the genre. He was strongly influenced by the precisely rendered Venetian scenes of Canaletto and Michele Marieschi. In this work, one of his most important early cityscapes, Guardi depicted the mouth of the Grand Canal hustling with late-afternoon activity. The church of Santa Maria della Salute and the customhouse are visible on the right. The emotional tenor of Guardi’s vedute—seen here in the brooding, melancholy aura of the sky—distinguishes them…
S(amuel) C(harles) Weston, Esq, London by 1840 [according to Graves 1913, p. 452]; by descent to his son, Alexander Anderdon Weston, Esq., London, died 1901 [according to Venice 1993, no. 30, pp. 106-7]; his widow Isabella Frances Weston, died 1922; sold by order of the Trustees of Isabella Frances Weston, Christie’s, London, October 21, 1949, no. 31, to Koetser for £7,200 pounds [according to annotated catalogue at the Ryerson Library, Art Institute of Chicago]; Koetser Gallery, New York; sold to the Art Institute in 1951.
London, British Institution, Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters with which the Proprietors have Favoured the Institution, 1840, no. 129. London, Royal Academy of Art, Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School; including a Special Selection from the Works of Paul Falconer Poole, R.A., 1884, no. 158. London, New Gallery, Exhibition of Venetian Art, 1894-5, no. 264. Detroit, Institute of Arts, September 30 – November 2, 1952 and Indianapolis, John Herron Institute of Arts, November 15 – December 31, 1952, Venice…
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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