Capriccio   Capriccio with ruined arch and circular temple Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) c. 1770-1780 Pen drawing with sepia wash 23.1 x 14.7 cm Verso: interior scene with columns Provenance: Fauchier-Magnan Collection, Paris; Sotheby's, London, 4 December 1935 (no. 29); collection of the Duke de Talleyrand; acquired by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation at Christie's, New York, on 23 January 2002 MCG inv. no. 2871 Calouste Gulbenkian did not purchase drawings by Francesco Guardi, preferring instead to assemble a magnificent group of paintings by the famous Venetian artist. However, as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is keenly aware of its formative role, it felt obliged to acquire this drawing by Guardi when it was sold in auction at Christie's, New York, early in 2002. In fact, the drawing is a preliminary study for the painting Capriccio, which has been part of the Gulbenkian Collection (inv. no. 531) since 1919. The seminal works by leading specialists who have studied Guardi's art have always associated this drawing to the Gulbenkian painting and to two other versions showing the same subject. The relationship between the recently purchased drawing and the painting in the collection is very close. Both pieces are from a late period when, according to Pallucchini, the artist's work had attained full maturity (c. 1770-89). They show a recurrent theme in Guardi's work: an imaginary scene consisting of two ruined arches, over a river, and a temple with a circular dome in the background. However, the number of figures that enliven the setting differs in the drawing and the painting. In the latter, the foreground includes two fishermen and a dog on the riverbank, while a second group of figures seems to be looking for something on the ground under one of the arches. In contrast, the drawing only suggests the dog's presence and just three of the human figures appear, although they are in the same poses as in the painting. The back of the page has another sketch, depicting an interior scene with columns. Guardi adopted different specific means used in painting and drawing to create the same aesthetic effect in the two pieces. The painting has an almost monochrome palette in shades of green that are diluted to create a transparent effect and dissolve outlines. This also allows light and shade to interplay and contrast different planes, creating an intensely Romantic atmosphere. The same result is achieved in the drawing by short, broken lines drawn with a pen. These lines are broken and then restarted in a nervy manner, while the wash picks out and highlights the composition's structural elements. As Pallucchini noted, "In the capricci (…) the intense rhythm of Guardi's work abolishes all frontiers between reality and fantasy". These imagined or idealised vistas, where the classical architecture such as the temple symbolise the memory of an age that has passed, are the finest expression of the artist's personal disquiet. The theme of most of his capricci is the solitude and silence that emerge from Venice's history at the end of the eighteenth century.   Interior with columns (back of drawing) Topics: Capriccio Francesco Guardi Francesco Guardi's drawings The Republic of Venice - From splendour to decline Francesco Guardi's paintings in the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection