Vienna. Liechtenstein Gallery: Church and Piazza of S. Mark, Venice;
Canal of the Giudecca, Venice; View on Grand Canal;
The Piazzetta.
Windsor. About fifty paintings.
Wallace Collection. The Giudecca; Piazza San Marco; Church of San
Simione; S. Maria della Salute; A Fete on the Grand Canal;
Ducal Palace; Dogana from the Molo; Palazzo Corner;
A Water-fete; The Rialto; S. Maria della Salute; A Canal
in Venice.

CHAPTER XXXII

FRANCESCO GUARDI

An entry in Gradenigo's diary of 1764, preserved in the Museo Correr,
speaks of "Francesco Guardi, painter of the quarter of SS. Apostoli,
along the Fondamenta Nuove, a good pupil of the famous Canaletto, having
by the aid of the camera ottica, most successfully painted two canvases
(not small) by the order of a stranger (an Englishman), with views of
the Piazza San Marco, towards the Church and the Clock Tower, and of the
Bridge of the Rialto and buildings towards the Cannaregio, and have
to-day examined them under the colonnades of the Procurazie and met with
universal applause."

Francesco Guardi was a son of the Austrian Tyrol, and his mountain
ancestry may account, as in the case of Titian, for the freshness and
vigour of his art. Both his father, who settled in Venice, and his
brother were painters. His son became one in due time, and the
profession being followed by four members of the family accounts
for the indifferent works often attributed to Guardi.

His indebtedness to Canale is universally acknowledged, and perhaps it
is true that he never attains to the monumental quality, the traditional
dignity which marks Canale out as a great master, but he differs from
Canale in temperament, style, and technique. Canale is a much more exact
and serious student of architectural detail; Guardi, with greater
visible vigour, obliterates detail, and has no hesitation in drawing in
buildings which do not really appear. In his oval painting of the Ducal
Palace (Wallace Collection) he makes it much loftier and more spacious
than it really is. In his "Piazzetta" he puts in a corner of the Loggia
where it would not actually be seen. In the "Fair in Piazza S. Marco"
the arch from under which the Fair appears is gigantic, and he
foreshortens the wing of the royal palace. He curtails the length of the
columns in the piazza and so avoids monotony of effect, and he often
alters the height of th