View of Campo San Zanipolo with the Temporary Platform Erected for the Visit of Pope Pius VI

Description

A study for one of a set of four paintings commissioned by the Venetian Republic to commemorate Pope Pius V’s state visit to Venice in 1782, this drawing is associated with the blessing the Pope conferred upon its citizens. Francesco Guardi’ssketch is an accurate rendering of the monuments and architecture in the Campo San Giovanni e Paolo square, including the temporary benediction platform and its access ramps in front of the Scuola
di San Marco, seen in the left background.

Guardi achieved his atmospheric effects by carefully modulating the wash against untreated areas of paper, resulting in a sense of flickering shadows and reflected sunlight.

Provenance

A. von Franck; sold, Galerie Prestel, Frankfurt, Dec. 4–5, 1889, lot 604. Freiherr A. von Lanna (Lugt 2773); sold, H.G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, May 10–11, 1910, lot 284. Ströhlin to Pierre Decourcelle, July 1911 [according to Paris 1971]; by descent; sold, Christie's, Paris, Mar. 21, 2002, lot 311, to Richard and Mary L. Gray, Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2019.