The Dogana, Venice
Francesco Guardi (Venice 1712 - Venice 1793)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1732 - 1793
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
615 x 865 x 75 mm
Place of origin
Venice
Order this imageCollection
Upton House, Warwickshire
NT 446814
Caption
The Dogana was the customs house in Venice – the emblem of maritime commerce for this sea-bound Republic. It is situated on a narrow finger of land between the Grand Canal and the Bacino di San Marco. The church of Santa Maria della Salute is shown on the right. It was a so-called ‘plague church’, built as a dedication to God in the hope that Venice would be delivered from the terrible plague that afflicted Venice in 1630. Each year, on 21st November – the Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin, Venetian dignitaries would process to the church from the Piazza di San Marco, across a special pontoon bridge. It is an event still held today.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Dogana, Venice, Francesco Guardi (Venice 1712 - Venice 1793). A view of the Dogana in the centre, Santa Maria della Salute at the extreme right, and in the distance to the left the Church of the Redentore on the Giudecca; gondolas and sailing vessels.
Provenance
Lord Foley (1852 - 1918) sale, Ruxley Lodge, 14 October 1919, lots 594, 595, Views of Venice by Guardi, refer to this and NT 446815; Otto Gutekunst (P. & D. Colnaghi); with Knoedler, 1921, from whom it was acquired by Lord Bearsted; given with Upton House to the National Trust by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882 – 1948), in 1948, shortly before his death
Credit line
Upton House, The Bearsted Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: on the back: Mrs. GuteKunst/100 & 96224B 24 x 30 Knoedler
Makers and roles
Francesco Guardi (Venice 1712 - Venice 1793), artist
Exhibition history
Souvenirs of the Grand Tour, Wildenstein, London, 1982, no.28
