The triumph of Guardi

This room has been given over to the display of some of Francesco Guardi’s most emblematic works. The skies in the paintings, overcast or bathing in the golden light of sunset, illustrate the full extent of the artist’s skill. His touch is more forceful, the buildings stand out more clearly against the sky and water. The elegant facades of the embassies rub shoulders with a more picturesque Venice where the washing is hanging out to dry in the windows (Guardi, View on the Cannaregio canal, with the Palazzo Surian-Bellotto, French embassy, New York, The Frick Collection). The scientific approach, inspired by the Enlightenment, that characterised Canaletto’s paintings gave way to a quest for emotions and impressions in Guardi’s work.