FRANCESCO GUARDI (VENISE 1712-1793)

Lot 31
11.06.2025 00:00UTC +01:00
Classic
Starting price
€ 50 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1437168
Lot 31 | FRANCESCO GUARDI (VENISE 1712-1793)
Estimate value
€ 50 000 – 80 000
FRANCESCO GUARDI (VENISE 1712-1793)
Venise : Le Palais des Doges et le Môle vus depuis le bassin de Saint-Marc
huile sur toile marouflée sur panneau
28,4 x 41,9 cm (11 3/16 x 16 ½ in.)




Provenance

George A. Simonson (1866-1938), après 1904 et jusqu'au moins 1924 (selon le catalogue d'exposition de 1923-1924, voir infra).
Acquis par la famille de l'actuel propriétaire dans le courant du XXe siècle.



Exhibited

Londres, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Winter Exhibition, 1923-1924, n°33.



Further details

FRANCESCO GUARDI (1712-1793), VENICE: THE DOGES' PALACE AND THE MOLO, OIL ON CANVAS LAID DOWN ON PANEL

Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) spent his entire career celebrating the beauty of his native Venice, the bridge between Europe, the Ottoman Empire and the mystical promise of Asia. The present painting captures an element of this enigmatic position of the Serenissima. Painted with delicate brushstrokes, Guardi offers viewers a dreamy view of the Doge's Palace and the Molo, in which the architectural details are more suggested than delineated: the delicate columns adorning the palace's façade are painted with a quick white line, the crenellations of the Granai di Terranova with a brief black dabs.

All the animation of the composition is concentrated in the figures, executed in small red, yellow and white staccato dots, swarming in front of the sun drenched buildings. The gondolas and boats in the foreground evoke the flourishing trade that enriched the city and guide the viewer's gaze from right to left. The large galley with the red and gold tarpaulin is the Doge's galley, which was used for all the formal occasions of the year except Ascension Day, for which a more sumptuous boat was employed.

This composition is almost identical to the one in the National Gallery in London (inv. 2099), which was executed around 1770. It is tempting to think of it as a preparatory sketch.
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