View of Piazza San Marco, Venice,
oil on canvas, 63.5 x 76.3 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Galleria Lampronti, Rome;
where purchased by the present owner

The present painting depicts the East side of the Piazza San Marco in Venice, with the Basilica at the centre, preceded by the Campanile and the Procuratie Vecchie and Procuratie Nuove on the sides. The warm light of sunset illuminates the right-hand side of the square, where various people are gathered. This iconic image of Venice was one of the most popular with eighteenth-century landscape painters such as Canaletto, Marieschi, Carlevarijs and the Guardis, especially since the view was one of the most requested by collectors and Grand Tourists.

The present painting has been attributed to Giacomo Guardi (1764–1835) by Dario Succi. Giacomo was the son of Francesco Guardi (1712–1793) and he trained in father’s workshop, with whom he collaborated up to his death. Giacomo specialised in depicting views of Venice, of which he made a great number using different techniques – from pen to watercolour, from tempera to oil.

Due to its style and composition, this view is also very similar to the works of Francesco Guardi and a comparison can be made with the two Views of Piazza San Marco (see A. Morassi, Guardi, Venice 1973, no. 380–381), which are characterised by the same free brush strokes. In the present painting, the airiness of the scene, the lightness of the strokes, the silvery light and the lively figures, who are almost “spots of colour” animating the scene, show typical traits of the great master’s painting.