id: 132644 accession number: 1955.164 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1955.164 updated: 2019-08-02 08:00:13.611000 A Procession of Triumphal Cars in the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Celebrating the Visit of the Conti del Nord (recto) Three Sketches of Arches (verso), 1782. Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712-1793). Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash; sheet: 25.9 x 36.8 cm (10 3/16 x 14 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1955.164 title: A Procession of Triumphal Cars in the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Celebrating the Visit of the Conti del Nord (recto) Three Sketches of Arches (verso) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1782 creation date earliest: 1782 creation date latest: 1782 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, Venice, 18th century technique: pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash department: Drawings collection: DR - Italian type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712-1793) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 25.9 x 36.8 cm (10 3/16 x 14 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition opening date: 1958-03-03T05:00:00 Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). title: Italian and French Drawings opening date: 1959-10-13T04:00:00 Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960). title: Aspects of Drawing opening date: 1961-01-10T05:00:00 Aspects of Drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 10-April 2, 1961). title: Drawings opening date: 1963-01-11T05:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). title: Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands opening date: 1965-01-01T05:00:00 Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965). title: Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection opening date: 1965-05-06T04:00:00 Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965). title: Italian Prints and Drawings opening date: 1968-01-30T05:00:00 Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 26, 1968). title: Drawings opening date: 1968-06-11T04:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968). title: Promenades, Pageants, Processions, and Pilgrimages opening date: 1981-08-25T04:00:00 Promenades, Pageants, Processions, and Pilgrimages. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 25, 1981-January 3, 1982). title: Venice as City and Theater opening date: 1985-02-27T05:00:00 Venice as City and Theater. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-April 21, 1985). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Eighteenth Century Venice. Whitechapel Art Gallery (January 3 - March 14 1951); Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (March 21 - April 18 1951). --- PROVENANCE Henry Oppenheimer, London; [his sale, Christie's, London, 10 July 1936, no. 93]; Brinsley Ford, London; [his sale, Sotheby's, London, 10 November 1954, no. 39]; [Richard Zinser, New York]. date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Before entering the museum's collection, this sheet may have been cut on the left, possibly to eliminate a sixth carriage that does not appear in Guardi’s other representations of the procession. digital description: This drawing records a grand procession through Venice's Piazza San Marco on the penultimate day of the 1782 celebrations for the visit of the Russian Grand Duke Paul (Pavel) Petrovitch and his wife Maria Feodorovna. Francesco Guardi was likely commissioned by the Venetian state to document the ducal visit. Drawing from the vantage point of the Procuratie Nuove (a palace on one side of the piazza), Guardi sketched five carriages festooned with allegories, which were meant to celebrate the governments of Catherine the Great and Venice. In order to include as much of the procession as possible, he manipulated the perspective of the buildings on the right side of the square.The loose handling and lively immediacy of the pen work suggests he executed it on the spot. One drawing (Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin) and two oil paintings (private collections, Venice and Milan) of the same scene survive. Cleveland’s sheet likely preceded these more detailed and polished compositions. wall description: This rapidly drawn pen study records the festivities in the Piazza San Marco held by the Venetian state for the visiting dignitaries from Russia, Grand Duke Paul (Pavel) Petrovitch, son of the Russian empress Catherine the Great, and his wife, Maria Feodorovna. The couple traveled incognito as the "count and countess of the North" and were celebrated throughout Europe during their extended tour. Guardi's drawing may have been made on the spot during the couple's visit to Venice and is much livelier than subsequent versions he made of the same scene. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 148 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n172 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 148 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n172 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 146 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n166 Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. page number: Mentioned: p. 8, pp. 70-71, p. 286; Reproduced: p. 71 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.164/1955.164_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.164/1955.164_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.164/1955.164_full.tif