View of Murano
ca. 1804–28
Medium
Pen and brown ink, gray wash
Dimensions
5 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. (13.9 x 21.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.364
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giacomo Guardi’s *View of Murano* captures the tranquil beauty of the Venetian lagoon in the early nineteenth century. Created between roughly 1804 and 1828, this intimate drawing depicts the island’s characteristic buildings, bridges, and boats gliding along the water. As the son of the celebrated view painter Francesco Guardi, Giacomo continued the family tradition of recording Venice’s distinctive light and architecture, even as the city’s political fortunes changed after the fall of the Republic. Executed in pen and brown ink with delicate gray wash on a modest sheet measuring just 5½ by ...
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...