GUARDI, FRANCESCO

ARCHITECTURAL FANTASY WITH A COURTYARD

First half of 1780-s

canvas, oil

38 х 26 cm

Inv.: 214

This work forms a pair with the Pushkin Museum Inv. No. 216.

The motif of the arch – semi-circular or Gothic – with or without a lantern is often found in the landscape compositions of Francesco Guardi and his numerous drawings.

Two drawings are linked with the picture in the Pushkin Museum: one in the Morgan Collection in New York and the other in the Horne Collection in Florence.

Provenance: acquired by D.I.Shchukin via M.M.Savostin in St. Petersburg in 1909-1910; held in the Museum of Old Western Art in Moscow after 1918; in the Pushkin Museum since 1924.