The Island of San Francesco del Deserto
ca. 1804–28
Medium
Pen and brown ink, gray wash
Dimensions
4 15/16 x 8 5/16 in. (12.6 x 21.1 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.358
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the serene Venetian Lagoon, *The Island of San Francesco Deserto* (ca. 1804–28) captures a tranquil vista by Giacomo Guardi, son of the renowned Francesco Guardi. This intimate drawing depicts the island's historic Franciscan monastery—founded in the 13th century by. Francis himself—with its clustered buildings and moored boatsting the water. Giacomo, continuing his father's legacy in the veduta tradition of precise, atmospheric cityscapes, sketched this during Venice's Napoleonic era, a time when the lagoon's timeless beauty offered respite amid political upheaval. Rendered in pen...
About the Artist
Giacomo Guardi · 1764–1835
Giacomo Guardi (1764–1835) was a Venetian painter who worked in the long shadow of his celebrated father, Francesco Guardi, one of the greatest vedutisti — view painters — of the eighteenth century. Born into one of Venice's most prominent artistic families, Giacomo received his training directly from his father, absorbing both the technical methods and the characteristic style that had made Franc...