Pope Pius VI Descending the Throne to Take Leave of the Doge in the Hall of Saints Giovanni e Paolo, 1782 and Pontifical Ceremony in Saints Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1782 (pair) (c. 1783): Art, Histor

Pope Pius VI Descending the Throne to Take Leave of the Doge in the Hall of Saints Giovanni e Paolo, 1782 and Pontifical Ceremony in Saints Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1782 (pair) (c. 1783) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712–1793).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

From May 15-18, 1782, Pope Pius VI Braschi was in Venice, the only papal visit during the eighteenth century, an event celebrated with great festivities. Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), a native Venetian, was one of the most celebrated scenic painters of the eighteenth century, and specialized in depictions of cityscapes and the pomp and pageantry of Venetian ceremonial life. To celebrate the momentous occasion, the Englishman Peter Edwards commissioned four large scenes of the Pope's visit. The museum's two smaller paintings represent copies of the popular subject, which Guardi copied either for the open market or for other patrons. The Pontifical Ceremony (Te Deum) depicts the musical performance of Te Deum, a prayer of thanksgiving set to music by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), a famous Venetian Baroque composer. Te Deum was a traditional hymn recited in thanks to God for a special blessing, including a papal election or a royal coronation, and was appropriate for the historic papal visit. In the Reception of the Doge and Senate, the Doge, the elected prince of Venice, and Senators of the Venetian Republic process towards the throne, as the pope blesses the multitude of government leaders.

Object facts

• Title: Pope Pius VI Descending the Throne to Take Leave of the Doge in the Hall of Saints Giovanni e Paolo, 1782 and Pontifical Ceremony in Saints Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1782 (pair)
• Date: c. 1783
• Creator attribution: Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712–1793)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 69.2 x 86.4 x 10.2 cm (27 1/4 x 34 x 4 in.); Unframed: 51.4 x 68.8 cm (20 1/4 x 27 1/16 in.)
• Collection: P - Italian 18th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1949.187

Collection credit

Gift of the Hanna Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Francis, Henry S. “Two Historical Pictures by Francesco Guardi.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 37, no. 3 (March 1950): 48–54.
• Coe, Nancy. "Four Paintings by Giovanni Antonio Guardi." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 44, no. 9 (November 1957): 198-203.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.