The Bacino di San Marco with the Island of San Giorgio
Francesco Guardi, 1765
For now, just to look at
The photograph we have of this work is not sharp enough to print at the quality we want, so we are not selling it for now. We are looking for a better one.
About the work
- Artist
- Francesco Guardi
- Date
- 1765
- Reference
- XDV-1368
What the museum label doesn't tell you
Look at the two speeds running through this canvas. The church's dome and facade are built with near-architectural precision: every column, every cornice line exactly placed. But drop your eye to the water and the register shifts entirely: the gondolas are four strokes, the rowers barely a flick of the wrist, the man leaning into his pole exists only because the brush trembled at the right instant. It is as if two different hands painted what endures and what passes. Stone does not move; water and people do. That contrast, more than the view itself, is the real subject here.
Which holds your eye longer, the rower or the church?
