Getty Museum
A Theatrical Performance
Creator
Francesco GuardiItalian Artist · 1712–1793
All works by this person →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
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1782
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink and brush with brown wash over black chalk
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
An elegantly dressed crowd gathers to watch a play in a large salon with a high barrel-vaulted ceiling. The mostly male spectators wear long frock coats, three-cornered hats, and hair tied behind in ponytails. Francesco Guardi quickly sketched the outline of the figures and architecture, and then applied strokes of brown wash to suggest shadows or the texture of fabric. Patches of wash suggest the arches around the windows and create depth on the raised platform of the stage. This sketch commemorates a performance of the *commedia dell'arte* on January 21, 1782, in Venice for Grand Duke Paul Petrovitch of Russia and his wife Maria Fedorovna. As part of their tour across Europe, traveling under the pseudonym "Comte et Comtesse du Nord," the Grand Duke and Duchess stayed in Venice between January 18 and 25. Guardi drew several paintings and drawings to record their visit.
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