Venice, the Mendicanti Canal

By Francesco Guardi (Venice 1712-1793)

Oil on canvas

Era late 19th century

Canvas 60 x 45

Contemporary frame 85 x 70

Excellent condition

This evocative Venetian canvas depicts the Rio dei Mendicanti, with the bridge of the same name and the church of San Lazzaro that overlooks the waters of the Canal. It is a view made famous by the masterpieces of Canaletto who painted it in several of his works now at the Cà Rezzonico museum and by Francesco Guardi. The work is inspired by a famous painting by Guardi, now exhibited at the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo.

The author reinterprets it in a very subtle way towards the end of the 19th century, creating the same atmosphere as Guardi's late 18th-century works, thanks to a very particular chromatic range, very similar to the original. The colour scheme is typical of the Venetian Master's mature period and is pervaded by a twilight light of great suggestion.

The canvas is certainly to be attributed to one of the particularly gifted artists working in Venice at the end of the 19th century, and stands out from the many similar reproductions for the notable pictorial quality that makes it of great charm and excellent decorative effect.

A beautiful golden frame completes the work in an excellent manner.