Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Fantasy Architecture in European Drawings

Francesco Guardi
Capriccio
18th century
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art

In Patrons and Painters, Francis Haskell tells of the 18th-century Venetian Abate Giacomo della Lena, a modest art dealer and collector, who still managed to own more than thirty paintings by Francesco Guardi (1712-1793). "The enthusiasm that della Lena felt for this artist is rationalized in a letter that he wrote to the economist, Giuseppe Maria Ortes. The arts, he comments, are unlike the sciences. For in the arts fantasy must dominate and take precedence over the intellect. In other words, truth must be made to serve falsehood. What is of value and pleasurable in the arts is indirect and unformulated; while the value of the Sciences is clear and complete." Haskell continues, "It was only in such an atmosphere as this that Francesco Guardi, with his disregard for 'truth', could flourish, untroubled by the more literal-minded English, who demanded a clear and unimaginative rendering of what they saw with their own eyes."

Francesco Guardi
Landscape with Arch
18th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Francesco Guardi
Capriccio with Grand Staircase
18th century
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Francesco Guardi
View with Obelisk
18th century
Morgan Library, New York

Francesco Guardi
Landscape with Figures
18th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Francesco Guardi
Capriccio with Colonnade
18th century
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Charles-Michel-Ange Challe
Architectural Interior
18th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Charles-Michel-Ange Challe
Architectural Capriccio
18th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Ennemond Alexandre Petitot
Design for a Stage Curtain
1780s
drawing
National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

Lorenzo Sacchetti
Classical Arches on a Raised Terrace
18th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Giuseppe Valeriani
Design for a Classical Facade
18th century
Morgan Library, New York

Giuseppe Valeriani
Portion of a Circular Colonnade
18th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Luigi Vanvitelli
Classical Architectural Vista
18th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Mauro Braccioli
Ramparts
18th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York