Imaginary Portico

The picture combines realism and fantasy, using a technique that was quite unusual for Guardi: gouache on paper, which gives the strokes a very particular lightness and transparency. The small square he painted, the ‘campo’ animated by figures, is not a specific place in Venice. One might search in vain for this portico with the hanging lantern, the church and its cupola, and the palace with the large stairway. In fact, unlike his master Canaletto, the artist was not trying to reproduce identifiable views of Venice, but rather to represent a familiar perception of the city. With its ever changing light and the meeting point between the sky and the lagoon represented in the same diaphanous and silvery light, the artist was adopting a more sensitive and romantic approach.