Portrait of Francesco Guardi

Francesco Guardi Painting Reproductions 4 of 5

1712-1793

Italian Rococo Painter

Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (October 5, 1712 - January 1, 1793) was a Venetian painter of veduta. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of painting.

Francesco Guardi was born in Venice into a family of lesser nobility from Trentino. His father Domenico (born in 1678) and his brothers Niccolo and Gian Antonio were also painters, the latter inheriting the family workshop after the father's death in 1716. They probably all contributed as a team to some of the larger commissions later attributed to Francesco. His sister Maria Cecilia married the pre-eminent Veneto-European painter of his epoch, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

In 1735, Francesco moved to the workshop of Michele Marieschi, where he remained until 1743. His first certain works is from 1738, for a parish at Vigo d'Anuania, in Trentino. In this period he worked alongside his better-known brother, Gian Antonio. The first work signed by Francesco is a Saint Adoring the Eucarist (circa 1739).

His works in this period included landscapes as well as figure representations. His early vedutas show influence both from Canaletto and Luca Carlevarijs. On February 15, 1757 he married Maria Mathea Pagani, the daughter of painter Matteo Pagani. In the same year his brother Gian Antonio died and his first son, Vincenzo, was born. His second son, Giacomo, was born in 1764.

In 1763 he worked in Murano, in the church of San Pietro Martire, finishing a Miracle of a Dominican Saint clearly influenced by Alessandro Magnasco in its quasi-expressionistic style.

Francesco Guardi's most important later works include the Doge's Feasts, a series of twelve canvases celebrating the ceremonies held in 1763 for the election of Doge Alvise IV Mocenigo. In his later years, Canaletto's influence on his art diminished, as showed by the Piazzetta in the Ca' d'Oro of Venice. In circa 1778, he painted the severe Holy Trinity Appearing to Sts. Peter and Paul in the parish church of Roncegno.

In 1782 Guardi was commissioned by the Venetian government six canvases to celebrate the visit of the Russian Archdukes in the city, of which only two remain, and two others for that of Pope Pius VI. On September 12 of that year he was admitted to the Fine Art Academy of Venice.

A stronger attention to colours is present in late works such as the Concerto of 80 Orphans of 1782, now in Munich, in the Facade of Palace with Staircase in the Accademia Carrara of Bergamo.

Guardi died at Venice in 1793.

Guardi's painterly style is known as "pittura di tocco" (of touch) for its small dotting and spirited brush-strokes. In this he differs from the more solid, meticulously etched, and architecturally accurate style of Canaletto's painting. This looser style of painting also had been used by Giovanni Piazzetta and Sebastiano Ricci. The religious paintings of Guardi also have some of sweetened sfumato of Barocci's Bolognese style. In this he differs from the more solid, meticulously etched, and architecturally accurate style of Canaletto's painting. This style, centuries later, would make Guardi's works highly prized by the French Impressionists.

Canaletto appears to have concentrated on meticulously depicting the urban architecture of the imperial republic; on the other hand, in Guardi, the buildings often appear to be melting and sinking into a murky lagoon. Canaletto's canvases often have intricate linear and brilliant details of urban structures, and depict Venice in sunny daylight. Guardi's skies are clouded and the time is dusk. These contrasts, however, simplify the facts, since Canaletto often painted the drab communal life and neighborhoods (creating in them some epic artistic qualities), while Guardi did not avoid painting some of the now-empty ceremonies of Ducal Venice. Ultimately, Guardi's paintings evoke the onset of the dissipation. The citizenry has shrunken to an impotent lilliputian crowd of "rubber-neckers", unable to rescue the crumbling Republic, as for example in the Fire in the Oil Depot in San Marcuola. It was fitting depiction of the rapidly declining empire, which had declined, in Napoleon's assessment, into a "drawing room of Europe" peopled with casinos, carnivals, and courtesans for hire.

106 Francesco Guardi Paintings

Capriccio with the Arcade of the Doge's Palace and Saint Giorgio Maggiore, c.1780 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Capriccio with the Arcade of the Doge's Palace ... c.1780

Oil Painting
$647
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7090
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 27.6 x 22.1 cm
The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

View of the Giudecca Canal and the Zattere, c.1757/58 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

View of the Giudecca Canal and the Zattere c.1757/58

Oil Painting
$1531
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7091
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 72.2 x 119.3 cm
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain

View of a Ruined Arch and the Venice Lagoon, c.1770/75 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

View of a Ruined Arch and the Venice Lagoon c.1770/75

Oil Painting
$596
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7092
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Capriccio of an Island in the Lagoons, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Capriccio of an Island in the Lagoons n.d.

Oil Painting
$547
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7093
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 20.9 x 30.3 cm
Private Collection

Cloister in Venice, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Cloister in Venice n.d.

Oil Painting
$909
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7094
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: unknown
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy

Madonna Read in Prayer, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Madonna Read in Prayer n.d.

Oil Painting
$1323
SKU: GUF-7095
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 61 x 50 cm
Private Collection

The Square at St. Mark's, Venice - A View of the Facade of the Torre dell' Orologio, c.1785 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

The Square at St. Mark's, Venice - A View of the ... c.1785

Oil Painting
$1461
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7096
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 34.5 x 43.1 cm
Private Collection

View of the Isola di San Pietro di Castello, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

View of the Isola di San Pietro di Castello n.d.

Oil Painting
$1345
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7097
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 34 x 54 cm
Private Collection

View of Canal Grande with Santa Lucia and Santa Maria di Nazareth, c.1780 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

View of Canal Grande with Santa Lucia and Santa ... c.1780

Oil Painting
$1734
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7098
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 48 x 78 cm
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain

Ships in the Sea, Thunder-Storm, c.1765/70 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Ships in the Sea, Thunder-Storm c.1765/70

Oil Painting
$762
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7099
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 33 x 45 cm
Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, Milan, Italy

Santa Maria della Salute, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Santa Maria della Salute n.d.

Oil Painting
$1287
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7100
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 48 x 38 cm
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Piazza San Marco, c.1776/77 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Piazza San Marco c.1776/77

Oil Painting
$1161
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7101
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 29.5 x 45 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

The Festival at Piazza San Marco, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

The Festival at Piazza San Marco n.d.

Oil Painting
$2637
Canvas Print
$79.55
SKU: GUF-7102
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 61 x 91 cm
Private Collection

Capriccio, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Capriccio n.d.

Oil Painting
$470
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7103
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 18 x 15 cm
Private Collection

A Capriccio of Buildings on the Laguna with Figures by a Ruined Arch, c.1778/80 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

A Capriccio of Buildings on the Laguna with ... c.1778/80

Oil Painting
$1119
Canvas Print
$60.23
SKU: GUF-7104
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 55.9 x 42.5 cm
Private Collection

A View of the Bacino di San Marco with San Giorgio Maggiore and the Punta della Giudecca, c.1785 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

A View of the Bacino di San Marco with San ... c.1785

Oil Painting
$1214
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7105
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 27.3 x 42.5 cm
Private Collection

Venice: the Punta della Dogana with the Giudecca and the Redontore Beyond, c.1776/80 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Venice: the Punta della Dogana with the Giudecca ... c.1776/80

Oil Painting
$1551
Canvas Print
$62.00
SKU: GUF-7106
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 50.2 x 75.6 cm
Private Collection

The Marriage of Tobias (detail), c.1750/53 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

The Marriage of Tobias (detail) c.1750/53

Oil Painting
$1447
Canvas Print
$89.45
SKU: GUF-7107
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: unknown
Church of the Angelo Raffaele, Venice, Italy

A Capriccio View of a Ruined Temple near a Bridge, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

A Capriccio View of a Ruined Temple near a Bridge n.d.

Oil Painting
$590
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7108
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 19.7 x 15.2 cm
Private Collection

A View of the Island of Anconetta with the Torre di Marghera Beyond, c.1788/90 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

A View of the Island of Anconetta with the Torre ... c.1788/90

Oil Painting
$547
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7109
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 19 x 25 cm
Private Collection

Venice, a View of the Campo San Zanipolo, 1782 by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Venice, a View of the Campo San Zanipolo 1782

Oil Painting
$1351
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7110
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 36 x 30.5 cm
Private Collection

A Still Life with Various Flowers in a Basket, Together with Two Doves in Landscape, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

A Still Life with Various Flowers in a Basket, ... n.d.

Oil Painting
$2330
Canvas Print
$70.98
SKU: GUF-7111
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 75 x 99 cm
Private Collection

Capriccio with Ruins, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

Capriccio with Ruins n.d.

Oil Painting
$512
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7112
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 12.7 x 19 cm
Private Collection

A Capriccio of a Venetian Lagoon with Fishermen in Gondolas, n.d. by Francesco Guardi | Painting Reproduction

A Capriccio of a Venetian Lagoon with Fishermen ... n.d.

Oil Painting
$1169
Canvas Print
$50.59
SKU: GUF-7113
Francesco Guardi
Original Size: 44.7 x 57.5 cm
Private Collection

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