The Antechamber of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio
ca. 1765–68
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
13 3/8 x 20 in. (34 x 50.8 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Lore Heinemann, in memory of her husband, Dr. Rudolf J. Heinemann, 1996
Accession Number
1997.117.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
Francesco Guardi’s *The Antechamber of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio* (ca. 1765–68) offers a rare glimpse inside Venice’s Doge’s Palace, the political heart of the Venetian Republic. Painted in oil on a modestly sized canvas, the scene captures the quiet anticipation of officials or visitors gathered in the antechamber leading to the Great Council Hall. Guardi, a leading figure of 18th-century Venetian view painting, specialized in atmospheric interiors and cityscapes that convey both grandeur and fleeting light. Though small in scale, the work reveals Guardi’s distinctive loose brushwork an...
About the Artist
Francesco Guardi · 1712–1793
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (1712–1793) was born into a noble family of painters from Trentino who had settled in Venice. His father, Domenico Guardi, a minor painter trained in Vienna, died in 1716, leaving young Francesco to inherit the family workshop alongside his brothers Giovanni Antonio (Gian Antonio) and Niccolò, both artists, and sister Maria Cecilia, who married the renowned Giovanni Battis...