View of the Giudecca Canal and the Zattere

This canvas is a good example of a genre that became very popular in the eighteenth century, particularly among Venetian artists: the veduta, or view. Paintings of this sort were commissioned or purchased by English travellers or art-lovers. Francesco Guardi, who was strongly influenced by Canaletto's idealised views of the city, generally made preparatory drawings for his paintings; the Museo Correr in Venice holds a large collection of his sketches and notes. Here, Guardi provides a view of the Giudecca Canal, the waterfront promenade of Zattere, the churches of San Biagio and Santa Marta, and the Euganean Hills rising up in the distant background, behind the island of San Giorgio in Alga. The use of light and colour are characteristic of eighteenth-century Venetian painting.