A Procession of Triumphal Cars in the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Celebrating the Visit of the Conti del Nord (recto)

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs A Procession of Triumphal Cars in the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Celebrating the Visit of the Conti del Nord (recto) as drawing (Italy, Venice · 1782).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

Before entering the museum's collection, this sheet may have been cut on the left, possibly to eliminate a sixth carriage that does not appear in Guardi’s other representations of the procession.

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected

FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this drawing as pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash and credits Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712–1793).

The museum's collection notes: This drawing records a grand procession through Venice's Piazza San Marco on the penultimate day of the 1782 celebrations for the visit of the Russian Grand Duke Paul (Pavel) Petrovitch and his wife Maria Feodorovna. Francesco Guardi was likely commissioned by the Venetian state to document the ducal visit. Drawing from the vantage point of the Procuratie Nuove (a palace on one side of the piazza), Guardi sketched five carriages festooned with allegories, which were meant to celebrate the governments of Catherine the Great and Venice. In order to include as much of the procession as possible, he manipulated the perspective of the buildings on

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtA Procession of Triumphal Cars in the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Celebrating the Visit of the Conti del Nord (recto)

Original explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.