{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1137022"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1137022/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EF7245/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EF7245/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EF7245","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AC5610","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE2333","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1137022/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1137022","accessionNumber":"DYCE.260","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Scene under the arch of a temple, with figures assembled about the steps; beyond, a fine gateway; Very slight, in pen, washed with bistre.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Guardi, Francesco","id":"A18909"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pen","id":"x30618"},{"text":"bistre","id":"AAT13351"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"wash technique","id":"AAT182748"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Very slight, in pen, washed with bistre","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"}],"styles":[{"text":"Venetian School","id":"x36536"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2010EF7245","2006AC5610","2017KE2333"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLH","id":"THES49654"},"free":"","case":"DG","shelf":"112","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawings","id":"AAT33973"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1730-1793","earliest":"1725-01-01","latest":"1793-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"10.2","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"6.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Original measurements converted from fractional inches into decimal inches (rounded to one decimal place).\r\nDimensions taken from: <u>DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce</u>. London : South Kensington Museum, 1874.","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Historical significance: Francesco Guardi was the most celebrated member of a family of eighteenth-century Venetian artists. After the death of his brother Giovanni in the middle of the century, Francesco established himself as a Veduta painter. Although he borrowed from many artists, the most important source of inspiration in his early period was certainly Canaletto. However, the painters probably had never worked together. Guardi followed closely Canaletto’s drawings and engravings in his topographically accurate views of Venice, which were in demand among foreign collectors.\r\n\r\nLater in the 1770s and 1780s, Guardi’s style becomes looser and freer. He also painted the figures according to contemporary fashion, which makes his paintings a valuable indication of the current trends in hairstyle and dress. The ladies in his works from that period wear high coiffures decorated with feathers and flowers inspired by French and English fashions. Guardi was more comfortable with small figures in architectural setting than with large-scale religious scenes in altarpieces.\r\n\r\nVenetian patrons preferred Guardi’s imaginary views, called capricci, to the straightforward recreations of the architecture of the city. The motifs include creative ensembles of classical architecture, picturesque ruins, Gothic arches, harbours and obelisks. Guardi often repeated these details introducing slight variations. Identifiable architectural details from Venice, such as the Doge’s Palace, conflate in the capricci with fruits of Guardi’s imagination. \r\n\r\nFrancesco Guardi died in 1793 as a major figure on the artistic scene. His characteristic style and considerable output encouraged many forgeries, especially in the medium of drawing.\r\n\r\nThis drawing is a <i>capriccio</i> or an imaginary ensemble of architecture and figures. The free, sketchy style is characteristic of Guardi’s late period. A date after 1780 has been suggested by Shaw on the basis of the style and the lady’s headdress (Byam Shaw , p. 74, no. 60 and p. 55). A related painting has been found in the Thierry collection in Paris (Morassi 1973, no. 758). Guardi often used similar sets of figures in a number of drawings and paintings. The couple at the top of the stairs appear in a sheet of <i>macchiette</i> (Morassi 1975, no. 206). These were quick sketches of Venetian lively crowds made with daubs of colour. Figural groups developed in that way would populate Guardi’s <i>vedute</i>, or city views.  The woman with a basket and child on the lower right is repeated in a drawing in the Correr Museum (Moraassi, Tutti I disegni, no. 217).\r\n\r\nThe sheet has a border around the edge in brown wash, similar to the one in Dyce 261 and other drawings by Guardi.\r\n\r\nReferences:\r\n\r\nMorassi, Antonio; <u> Guardi : tutti i disegni di Antonio, Francesco e Giacomo Guardi</u>, (Alfieri, Venezia 1975)\r\n\r\nMorassi, Antonio; <u>Guardi: Antonio e Francesco Guardi</u>, (Alfieri, Venezia 1973)","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Guardi, Francesco; Scene under the arch of a temple, with figures assembled about the steps; beyond, a fine gateway; Very slight, in pen, washed with bistre; Venetian School; ca.1730-1793.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce</u>. London : South Kensington Museum, 1874.\n\nThe relevant text of the entry is as follows:\r\n\r\n'VENETIAN SCHOOL.\r\n...\r\nFRANCESCO GUARDI. \r\nBorn at Venice in 1712, died in 1793. \r\n\r\nSCENE under the arch of a temple, with figures assembled about the steps; beyond, a fine gateway. Very slight, in pen, washed with bistre.  260 \r\n<i>Height,</i> 10 2/12 <i>inches.  Width,</i> 6 6/12 <i>inches.</i>'"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ward-Jackson, Peter, <u>Italian Drawings Volume II. 17th-18th century</u>, London, 1979, p. 149, illus. \n\nThe following is the full text of the entry: \n\r\nGUARDI, FRANCESCO\r\n(1712-93)\n\r\n1030 \n\r\nArchitectural capriccio, with figures beneath an arcade \r\nPen and ink and wash over black chalk \r\n10 1/8 x 6 1/2 (257 x 165) Dyce 260 \n\r\nPROVENANCE Dyce Bequest 1869 \n\r\nLITERATURE <i>Dyce Catalogue</i> no. 260 (as by Guardi); Reitlinger, p. 17, no. 38; Borenius, p. 224; Pallucchini, p. 30; Byam Shaw, p. 74, no. 60 and p. 55; I. Moskowitz (editor), <i>Great Drawings of all time</i>, New York, 1962, I, pl, 298; W. Ames, <i>Italian drawings from the 15th to the 18th century</i>, 1963, pl, 95; Morassi, <i>Tutti i disegni</i>, no. 510, pl, 506 \n\r\nByam Shaw dates the drawing after 1780 from the style and the lady's headdress. A painting which partly corresponds is in the Thierry collection, Paris (Morassi, <i>L' opera completa</i>, no. 758). The figures, as Byam Shaw observes, may be found again in other works of Guardi: the lady and gentleman at the top of the steps occur in a sheet of macchiette in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Byam Shaw, pi. 51; Morassi, <i>Tutti i disegni</i>, no. 206), while the woman with a basket and child are the same in a drawing in the Correr Museum (Pallucchini, pi. 36; Morassi, <i>Tutti i disegni</i>, no. 217). The sheet of 18th century paper on which the drawing js mounted has a border round the edge in brown wash, exactly as in no. 1029 and nos. 5 and 7 in Byam Shaw (p. 58). \r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"temple","id":"AAT7595"},{"text":"arch","id":"AAT994"},{"text":"figures (representations)","id":"AAT189808"},{"text":"steps","id":"AAT3312"},{"text":"gateway","id":"AAT69189"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["DYCE.260"],"accessionNumberNum":"260","accessionNumberPrefix":"DYCE","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2009-09-14","availableToBook":false}}