Bacino di San Marco with the Dogana del Mare and Santa Maria della Salute

Art Historical Context

This evocative drawing captures the expanse of Venice’s Bac di San Marco, with the distinctive silhouette of the Dogana del Mare customs house and the grand dome of Santa Maria della Salute rising along the waterfront. Created around 1793 by imitator of Francesco Guardi, the sheet reflects the popularity of Venetian view paintings, or ved, at the close of eighteenth century. Guardi had perfected these atmospheric scenes, and this work carries forward his interest in the play of light on water and the lively rhythm the city’s architecture, even if rendered by a later hand. Executed in pen and brown ink with delicate brush washes over faint graphite on ivory laid paper, the drawing demonstrates the fluid, economical technique favored by Venetian draftsmen. The layered washes suggest the soft haze of the lagoon and the bright reflections on the canal, while the precise pen lines define the buildings’ elegant profiles. Measuring over sixteen by twenty-five inches, the sheet’s generous scale allows the eye to wander across the open water toward the horizon, inviting viewers to experience the city’s famed luminosity on paper. As a work now in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection, this piece offers a window into Venice’s cultural identity just before the upheavals of the Napoleonic era. It preserves the timeless appeal of the city’s skyline while revealing how artists continued to explore and reinterpret Guardi’s vision for new audiences.