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Pontifical Ceremony in Saints Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1782
About the Artwork
The second scene in the series depicts Pius VI celebrating mass in the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, one of the largest churches in Venice and the pope’s residence during his stay. The mass included a performance of the Te Deum, a prayer of thanksgiving set to music by the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741). Traditionally, the Te Deum was recited in thanks to God for a special blessing, including a papal election or a royal coronation, and thus was appropriate for this historic papal visit.
Provenance
Jakob Goldschmidt, Berlin, 1929, and New York; [Galerie Matthiessen, Berlin, 1944]; [Jacques Seligman & Co., New York], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1949.
Exhibition history
Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956). In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958). Mostra dei Guardi. Palazzo Grassi spa, 30124 Venice, Italy (organizer) (June 5-October 10, 1965). Il Gran Teatro del Mondo: L'Anima e il Volto del Settecento. Palazzo Reale, Milano, Italy (November 10, 2003-May 2, 2004). Splendore a Venezia: Art and Music from the Renaissance to Baroque in the Serenissima. Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (organizer) (October 12, 2013-January 19, 2014); Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (February 15-May 11, 2014). Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 25-May 20, 2018).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712–1793)
- Date
- c. 1783
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 69.2 x 87 x 11.4 cm (27 1/4 x 34 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.); Unframed: 51.4 x 68.8 cm (20 1/4 x 27 1/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of the Hanna Fund
- Accession no.
- 1949.187.2
More by Francesco Guardi in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009642
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