Rialto Bridge, Venice

c. 1770/1800

Italian 18th Century

Painter

Francesco Guardi

Related Artist, Venetian, 1712 - 1793

Follower of Francesco Guardi

Attributed to

From a point of view over the water, we look across a bustling canal at a stone bridge, which is flanked by rows of buildings to each side in this horizontal painting. At the center of the composition, the bridge is supported by a wide arch, and the two halves of the deck angle down and to the left and right from a high point at the center. Another arch topped with a triangular roof marks the high point, and buildings line the deck to the left and right. Touches of red, white, yellow, pale blue, and brown suggest people walking along the deck under awnings. The waterway is tinged marine green along the bottom of the painting and lightens to sky blue farther back. Gondolas and small boats that crowd the canal are steered by people using long poles. Many of the boaters wear pale-colored clothing, and some boats have curved black covers. Four, five, and six-story buildings line the canal on both sides and continue into the distance beyond the bridge. The buildings are tightly packed with tall, narrow windows and muted red, yellow, and tan-colored facades. Laundry hangs from some windows and ledges. In the top third of the composition, a few wispy clouds blend into the pale blue sky. Dozens of people walk or stand along the waterfront to the right or work on boats pulled up to the walkway lining the canal to the left. The scene is loosely painted, especially in the people and the more distant architecture.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on wood

  • Credit Line

    Gift of R. Horace Gallatin

  • Dimensions

    overall: 19.1 x 30.3 cm (7 1/2 x 11 15/16 in.)
    framed: 34.6 x 45.7 x 6 cm (13 5/8 x 18 x 2 3/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.1.6

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Eugene Glaenzer, Paris); purchased 1914 by (M. Knoedler & Co., London); sold 1924 to R. Horace Gallatin [1871-1948], New York;[1] gift 1949 to NGA.
[1] Glaenzer was a dealer active in Paris and New York during the early 1900s. All the provenance information is from the Knoedler records, provided by Martha Hepworth of the Getty Provenance Index (letter of 25 February 1992, NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1954

  • Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1954-1955.

1967

  • The Art of Venice: An Exhibition of Five Works of Venetian Masters on extended loan from The Lending Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Tampa Bay Art Center, University of Tampa, Florida, 1967-1969, p. 11, repro.

1969

  • Inaugural Exhibition: European Paintings, The Art Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1969-1970, no cat.

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1969.

Bibliography

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 64, as The Rialto Bridge by Francesco Guardi.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 56, repro., as The Rialto Bridge by Francesco Guardi.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 97, as by Francesco Guardi.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 166, repro., as The Rialto Bridge by Francesco Guardi.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:242; 2:pl. 163, as The Rialto Bridge by Francesco Guardi.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 193, repro., as The Rialto Bridge by Francesco Guardi.

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: 141-143, repro. 142.

Wikidata ID

Q20178530

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