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Francesco Guardi viewed a hot-air balloon ascent in 1782, two years before he painted this subject. The balloon is artfully framed by the portico of the Dogana di Mare, as the viewer faces the Giudecca canal; two Palladian basilicas are visible in the distance. Such sky-rising was a popular sport in the eighteenth century. Built for the procurator Pesaro, this balloon was manned by Conte Zambeccari only a year after the Montgolfier brothers' ascent.
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