A Caprice with a Ruined Arch

Small figures - traders returning home from market or a fishing trip - animate this little scene, but also serve as a measure of scale, alerting us to the size of the ruins. This is an imaginary scene known as a capriccio, but Guardi took inspiration from known buildings - the arch with a suspended lantern may be derived from the arcade of the Doge's Palace in Venice (though it has been exaggerated, as is appropriate in a capriccio).

Guard has used fluid brushstrokes and thin paint layers, with pen-like details for the buildings. He produced these kinds of pictures in large numbers in his studio in Venice throughout the 1770s and 1780s as popular souvenirs for tourists.

Credit: Salting Bequest, 1910