Drawing

mid-1750s

Turns to the city view

Francesco Guardi’s turn to the veduta, the city view, is dated to the mid-1750s. Other accounts say he concentrated on vedute after his brother’s death in 1760. His early views show the influence of Canaletto and Luca Carlevarijs.

15 February 1757

Marries Maria Mattea Pagani

Francesco Guardi married Maria Mattea Pagani, daughter of the late painter Matteo Pagani.

1764

Shows views of San Marco and the Rialto in the Procuratie

Guardi exhibited two views in the Procuratie building in Venice — Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, taken with the aid of a camera obscura “at the request of an anonymous English foreigner”, possibly the British consul Joseph Smith, a collector and publisher of prints.

27 January 1769

His wife dies after childbirth

On 14 January 1769 Guardi’s third son, Giovanni Battista, was born but died three days later; on 27 January the painter’s wife, Maria Mattea, also died of complications after the birth.

mid-1770s

Commission for the twelve “Doge’s Feasts”

Guardi was commissioned to paint a series of twelve canvases on the festive ceremony of the “Marriage of the Doge to the Sea”, held for the election of Doge Alvise IV Mocenigo in 1763. He based them on Giovanni Battista Brustolon’s engravings after Canaletto, published by Lodovico Furlanetto in 1766–1770.

1 gennaio 1793

Died