were not animated by any very genuine impulse to study nature
minutely. It was the picturesque element which appealed to them, and
they were chiefly concerned to reproduce romantic features, grouped
according to fancy. Guardi composes half fantastic scenes, introducing
classic remains, triumphal arches, airy Palladian monuments. His
_capricci_ include compositions in which Roman ruins, overgrown with
foliage, occupy the foreground of a painting of Venetian palaces, but in
which the combination is carried out with so much sparkle and nervous
life and such charm of style, that it is attractive and piquant rather
than grotesque.

England is richest in Guardis, of any country, but France in one respect
is better off, in possessing no less than eleven fine paintings of
public ceremonials. Guardi may be considered the originator of small
sketches, and perhaps the precursor of those glib little views which are
handed about the Piazza at the present day. His drawings are fairly
numerous, and are remarkably delicate and incisive in touch. A large
collection which he left to his son is now in the Museo Correr. In his
later years he was reduced to poverty and used to exhibit sketches in
the Piazza, parting with them for a few ducats, and in this way flooding
Venice with small landscapes. The exact spot occupied by his _bottega_
is said to be at the corner of the Palazzo Reale, opposite the Clock
Tower. The house in which he died still exists in the Campiello della
Madonna, No. 5433, Parrocchia S. Canziano, and has a shrine dedicated to
the Madonna attached to it. When quite an old man, Guardi paid a visit
to the home of his ancestors, at Mastellano in the Austrian Tyrol, and
made a drawing of Castello Corvello on the route. To this day his name
is remembered with pride in his Tyrolean valley.

SOME WORKS OF GUARDI

Bergamo. Lochis: Landscapes.
Berlin. Grand Canal; Lagoon; Cemetery Island.
London. Views in Venice.
Milan. Museo Civico: Landscapes.
Poldi-Pezzoli: Piazzetta; Dogana; Landscapes.
Oxford. Taylorian Museum: Views in Venice.
Padua. Views in Venice.
Paris. Procession of the Doge to S. Zaccaria; Embarkment in
Bucentaur; Festival at Salute; "Jeudi Gras" in Venice;
Corpus Christi; Sala di Collegio; Coronation of Doge.
Turin. Cottage; Staircase; Bridge over Canal.
Venice. Museo Correr: The Ridotto; Parlour of Convent.
Verona. Landscapes.
Wallace Collection. The