View of the Isola di San Michele in Venice

About this artwork

…; collection Barthold Suermondt (1818-1887), Aachen;{Coll. cat. Berlin 1898, p. 131, no. 501C.}…; collection Königliche Museen zu Berlin, 1898;{Coll. cat. Berlin 1898, p. 131, no. 501C.} from whom acquired, with three other paintings, by the dealer P. Cassirer, Berlin, in exchange for three paintings, 1918;{SMB-ZA, I/GG 50, Protokolle der Sitzungen der Sachverständigenkommission der Gemäldegalerie, 1901-1916, 1918, p. 102 v., J.-Nr. 760/18.}….; from the dealer N. Beets, Amsterdam, fl. 1,700, to...

Art Historical Context

Giacomo Guardi (1774–1835) created this modest yet evocative oil on canvas as part of the long Venetian tradition of vedute, or painted views. Measuring just 14 by 21.5 centimetres, the work’s intimate scale was typical of Guardi’s output and suited the growing 18th- and 19th-century market for portable souvenirs of Venice’s unique cityscape. The subject, the Isola di San Michele, offered visitors a tranquil prospect of one of the lagoon’s most atmospheric islands, framed by water and distant architecture. The painting’s careful attention to light and atmosphere reflects the artist’s inherita...

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...