An Architectural Caprice with a Palladian Style Building

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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This theatrical scene, with its stage-like setting of dramatic buildings that loom over the figures, was imagined by Guardi. The building on the left may be based on an unused design for Venice’s Rialto bridge by Andrea Palladio, a sixteenth-century architect. Guardi probably studied the design and has added a dome here. The painting presents a collection of Ancient Greek and Roman architecture, from the domed building with a temple front to the classical arcade in the background, which curves round to end in the loggia (open-sided gallery or room) on the right. Although you get a sense of the distances between the buildings, the staircase going down from the temple portico merges into shadow and it isn't easy to tell where the drum-like podium actually meets the ground.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

An Architectural Caprice with a Palladian Style Building

Date

1770-80

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 22.3 x W 17 cm

Accession number

NG2517

Acquisition method

Salting Bequest, 1910

Work type

Painting

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