Capriccio with a Church seen through a Portico (Alternative Title: Capriccio with a Church Seen through an Arch)

Francesco Guardi (attributed to) 1712 - 1793

Summary

This is one of a series of capricci, or fantasy views, of eighteenth-century Venice, a genre at which Guardi was an acknowledged master. They show the technique of his later years: a spirited, atmospheric approach that is very different from the measured and orderly style of Canaletto, the other famous view-painter of Venice. This view is taken from the shade of a large portico. A man and a child are walking away from the viewer into the sunshine, past a massive square column in the centre foreground. On the left is a church with a domed roof. To the right, a series of arched gateways appear to lead out of the town toward the hills that can be seen in the distance. Guardi came from a family of Venetian artists. He worked first on religious paintings, initially with his father and then with his brother, until the latter's death in 1860. From then on he concentrated on vedute (views) and capricci (fantasy views) of Venice. This work has been attributed to him, because it conforms closely to the style of his last decade, although it can be very hard to distinguish Guardi's work from that of contemporary and other imitators.