GUARDI, Francesco
(b. 1712, Venezia, d. 1793, Venezia)

The Doge on the Bucintoro near the Riva di Sant'Elena (detail)

1766-70
Oil on canvas, 66 x 100 cm (whole painting)
Musée du Louvre, Paris

This painting belongs to a series of twelve canvases, almost all in the Louvre, which recount the various episodes in the election of Doge Alvise Mocenigo of Venice in 1763. The artist faithfully copied the scenes drawn by Canaletto, engraved by Giambattista Brustolon and published in 1766. This has led to some confusion, and the canvases were formerly attributed to Canaletto, although their style was quite unmistakably that of Guardi. It seems likely that these pictures had been painted for Doge Alvise Mocenigo himself.