Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge, Venice
probably c. 1780
Artist, Venetian, 1712 - 1793

For several decades after Canaletto painted his Quay of the Piazzetta, Francesco Guardi continued producing picturesque cityscapes for the tourist trade. Although the artist was little-known in his own day, his views of Venice are now highly prized for their atmospheric qualities and broad, sketchy brushwork.
The Rialto Bridge, built in 1592 as the first stone bridge to span the Grand Canal, is the focal point of Guardi's composition, one of several versions of this popular attraction. Lined with market stalls and shops, it formed the hub of an important commercial center. Just beyond the bridge at the right is the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, the warehouse of the German merchants -- now a post office -- that became famous in the Renaissance when Giorgione and Titian frescoed its facade.
People poke their heads out of windows and gather on the balconies to watch the spectacle of daily life on the Rialto. The artist must have taken his view from a similar perch, looking down on the bustling scene. Market barges draped in canvas canopies are tied up at the quayside. Energetic gondoliers pole their boats up the crowded canal.
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/italian-paintings-17th-and-18th-centuries.pdf

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 31
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil on canvas
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 68.5 x 91.5 cm (26 15/16 x 36 in.)
-
Accession
1942.9.27
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Possibly John Ingram [1767-1841], Matsala [or Marsala] House, England;[1] probably passed to his son Hughes Ingram [b. c. 1800]; probably passed to his nephew Ingram Fuller Godfrey [1827-1916].[2] John G. Johnson, Philadelphia; purchased 1894 by Peter A. B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[3] inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] Catalogue of Paintings Forming the Private Collection of P.A.B. Widener, Ashbourne, near Philadelphia. Part II. Early English and Ancient Paintings, Paris, 1885-1900: 202, gives the provenance as "Ingram (Marsala House) Collection." A typewritten copy of the same catalogue, dated 1908 on the binding (NGA library, Rare Book Collection), changes "Marsala" to "Matsala." Subsequent Widener catalogues (1916, 1923, and 1931) give the provenance as Matsala House. The probable pendant (see text of the NGA systematic catalogue entry) is listed in the Catalogue of a Collection of Pictures Belonging to John G. Johnson, Philadelphia, 1892: 86, no. 257, as coming from "Ingram of Marsala House." Ingram has not been identified conclusively, but would appear to be John Ingram, who is known to have collected Guardi views in Venice around 1800. On John Ingram see Francis Haskell, "Francesco Guardi as Vedutista and Some of His Patrons", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 23 (1960): 271-272. In a letter of 17 September 1968 (NGA curatorial files), Haskell wrote that he was baffled by the reference to Matsala House. John Ingram is known to have resided at Staindrop Hall, County Durham; in Venice; and later in Rome.
[2] The later history of John Ingram's collection is traced by James Byam Shaw, "Some Guardi Drawings Rediscovered", Master Drawings 15 (1977): 3-5. Parts of Ingram's collection were dispersed at the end of the nineteenth century in public sales that did not include paintings. Johnson may have acquired the Washington and Philadelphia paintings directly or indirectly from Ingram's heirs at about this time, but this cannot be documented.
[3] According to a typewritten card in the Lynnewood Hall Inventories, NGA curatorial files. The painting does not appear in the 1892 Johnson catalogue cited in note 1.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1940
Masterpieces of Art. European & American Paintings 1500-1900, New York World's Fair, 1940, no. 29, repro.
1994
The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century, Royal Academy of Arts, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museo del Settecento Veneziano - Ca'Rezzonico, Venice, 1994-1995, not in cat. (shown only in Washington in 1995).
2010
Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals, The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2010-2011, no. 62, repro.
2012
Francesco Guardi, 1712-1793, Museo Correr, Venice, 2012-2013.
Bibliography
1916
Berenson, Bernard, and William Roberts. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early Italian and Spanish Schools. Philadelphia, 1916: unpaginated, repro., as View of the Rialto.
1923
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro., as View of the Rialto.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 222, repro., as View of the Rialto.
1935
Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 119, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939: 119, repro.).
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 27, repro., as View of the Rialto.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 318, repro., as View of the Rialto.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 64, as View of the Rialto.
1967
Arslan, Edoardo. "Considerazioni sui vedutismo di Francesco Guardi." In Problemi Guardeschi. Atti del Convegno di studi promosso della mostra dei Guardi 13-14 settembre 1965. Venice, 1967: 18.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 56, repro., as View of the Rialto.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 97.
1973
Morassi, Antonio. Guardi: Antonio e Francesco Guardi. 2 vols. Venice, 1973-1975: 1:408-409, no. 529; 2:fig. 512.
1974
Rossi Bortolatto, Luigina. L'opera completa di Francesco Guardi. Milan, 1974: 114, no. 406, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 166, repro., as View of the Rialto.
Morassi, Antonio. Tutti i disegni di Antonio, Francesco e Giacomo Guardi. Venice, 1975: 143.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:240-241; 2:pl. 161, as View of the Rialto.
1982
Bordeaux, Jean Luc. "Baroque to Neo-Classicism." Apollo 115 (1982): 448.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 348, no. 482, color repro., as View of the Rialto.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 193, repro., as View of the Rialto.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 119, repro., as View of the Rialto.
1993
Succi, Dario. Francesco Guardi. Milan, 1993: 107, fig. 107.
1996
De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 130-133, color repro. 131.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 238, no. 189, color repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20178939