Description

This is one of a cycle of four paintings produced by Francesco Guardi in Venice between 1782 and 1783 to document His Holiness Pope Pius VI’s visit to the city on the lagoon on his way home from Vienna. This took place May 15th – 18th, 1782. The painting included in the Zani Collection describes His Holiness’s arrival at San Giorgio in Alga. At the center of the scene, Doge Paolo Renier, wearing gilded brocade robes, kneels before the Pope, who is wearing a red and white gown. To the right you can see the Doge’s following: the Councilmen, the leaders of the Criminal Quarantia (in charge of criminal law), and the Sages, all wearing gilded brocade and crimson velvet. On the left, behind the Patriarch, the clerical procession of the Bishops of the Venetian State.