Francesco Guardi, 'A Caprice with Ruins on the Seashore', about 1775-80
About the work
Overview
This imaginary scene reflects an eighteenth-century fascination with ruins. In it, a once glorious but now ruined folly has been positioned on one of the islands in the Venetian lagoon. Two men dig energetically beside the classical arch, a scene repeated in other paintings by Guardi. He has used the crumbling ruins, emphasised by the trailing greenery and warm light, to evoke an emotional response in viewers, reminding us of the inevitable passage of time.
Guardi painted this in the late 1770s, when he was over 60 years old, and it displays all his ability to suggest form with only a few strokes of paint. The two closest figures are placed in a shaft of light, with the arch acting as a framing device that allows the distant architecture to recede.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Caprice with Ruins on the Seashore
- Artist
- Francesco Guardi
- Artist dates
- 1712 - 1793
- Date made
- about 1775-80
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 36.8 × 26.1 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Salting Bequest, 1910
- Inventory number
- NG2522
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2012Canaletto - Guardi: The two masters of VeniceMusée Jacquemart-André14 September 2012 - 14 January 2013
Bibliography
-
1956Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1956
-
1986Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1986
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.