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An Imaginary View of a Venetian Lagoon, with a Fortress by the Shore

Creator

Italian Artist · 1712–1793

Francesco Guardi came from a family of artists; both his father and his elder brother Antonio were painters. Francesco established himself as a figure painter in Antonio's workshop but around the time of his brother's death in 1760, Francesco began producing *vedute.* Guardi's Venetian views were indebted to Canaletto but as an English patron noted, "Though he has taken Canaletto's department, Gua

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Date: about 1750–1755
Medium: Pen and brown ink, brown wash, and little traces of underdrawing in black chalk
Culture: Italian
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum
Object ID: ae0e7115-761a-4469-8c63-0d6fa965f941

From the Getty Museum record

Francesco Guardi based this drawing on a picture much like one by Luca Carlevarijs, now in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, London. It is a *capriccio*, an imaginary view that was popular in Italy in the 1700s, and Guardi created many similar imaginary scenes of Venetian life. This scene is rendered in light brown tones, with both pen and ink, with wash. The shoreline is accented with white highlights. The combination of hazy brown shading and placid water gives the impression of a summer evening, just before sunset.

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