Offered by Galerie PhC
School or workshop of Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) -View of Venice-Vedute circa 1800.
Canvas mounted on panel 61 cm by 49 cm
Frame of 75 cm by 63 cm
We are in Venice at the end of the grand canal with a view of “Santa Maria della Salute” basilica. The artist offers us with great talent and attention to detail, a luminous, lively and rich work of many characters. We are in the presence of work later than Francesco Guardi, most likely from the Workshop directed by his brother Giaccomo Guardi (1764; 1835).
Francesco Guardi (1712-1793)
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi was born on October 5, 1712, he is the son of the painter Domenico and Maria Claudia Pichler. Both his parents belong to the nobility. His father died on October 16, 1716, leaving his wife and children Gianantonio, Maria Cecilia, Francesco and Nicolò. His sister Maria Cecilia married the painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
The first document on Francesco Guardi's activity as a painter dates from December 15, 1731, when the Venetian count Giovanni Benedetto Giovannelli quotes in his will paintings made by the Guardi brothers.
In 1735, Francesco Guardi began working in the studio of painter Michele Marieschi, where he remained until the latter's death in 1743.
At the same time he works in collaboration with his brother Gianantonio Guardi. On October 13, 1738 dates the first document citing Francesco Guardi with his brother for an order made by don Pietro Antonio Guardi for the realization of the paintings of three glasses of the church of Vigo d'Anaunia, in 1738, representing a Miracle of the Host and a Saint Francis which is attributed to Francesco.
On May 16, 1756, he signed a marriage contract with Marianna Dimurat but he married on February 15, 1757 with Maria Mathea Pagani, daughter of the painter Matteo Pagani.
In 1758, Guardi signed his first view of Venice which is considered to be influenced by Canaletto.
Before the death of his brother, on January 22, 1760, the specialists discuss the attribution of the paintings between the two brothers as for the History of Tobit for the church dell'Angelo Raffaele of Venice (1749-1752) or the Miracle of a Dominican saint from the Vienna Art History Museum.
After 1760, he took charge of the workshop and his style asserted itself in vedute and whims. He enrolled in the Brotherhood of Venetian Painters.
His first son, Vincenzo, was born on August 25, 1760. His second son, Giacomo Guardi, was born on April 13, 1764. On January 14, 1769 his third son, Giovanni Battista was born, who died three days later and on January 27 his wife Maria Mathea dies from childbirth.
His work
With Canaletto, he is the painter par excellence of vedute, those picturesque and meticulous “views” of Venice, a pictorial genre that flourished fully in the 18th century.
He was born into a family dedicated to painting: his father, Domenico, was already a painter and two other brothers were painters like him, to the point that it is sometimes difficult today to attribute to each what is due to him.
Until the age of fifty, he only exercised a subordinate role in the studio of his brother Gianantonio, painter of religious paintings. After the latter's death, he then turned towards the veduta.
He has profoundly renewed its inspiration: where Canaletto sticks to a representation of cold perfection, he adds a warm light.
If the paintings of Francesco Guardi are not understood by the Venetians, they meet with great success abroad. Its vedute are the pretext for an unusual description of the Venetian monuments which are bathed in a silvery light.
His vision of Venice influenced that of the great painters who used this city as a source of inspiration (Turner and Monet among others).
