Manner of Giacomo Guardi

Private collection, Milan;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 28 January 1999, lot 327 (as Giacomo Guardi);
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 23 May 2001, lot 69 (as Manner of Giacomo Guardi);
There acquired.

D. Succi, Francesco Guardi, Itinerario dell'avventura artistica, Milan 1993, pp. 137-8 (as by Giacomo Guardi)

Venice, Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venezia: Da Stato a Mito, 31 August - 30 November 1997, no. 49.

The painting depicts the first ascent of a balloon in Venice on 15 April 1784. The balloon became known as the "Montgolfier balloon" after the brothers who first succeeded ballooning. The balloon was commissioned by Francesco Pesaro, the Caviliere Procurator of San Marco from the Zanchi brothers; it was piloted by the Conte Giovanni Zambeccari. The Pesaro ascent occasioned much excitement in Venice and was recorded in commemorative poetry, a medal struck for the event and in an engraving. 

The ascent took place from a pontoon bridge (seen in the middle distance in the present painting) in the middle of the Bacino. On the left is the campanile of San Giovanni Battista on the far end of the Giudecca and on the right, the Redentore. For the most part, the spectators look intently on the event, the balloon hoisting a cabin in the shape of a Venetian bissola, or parade boat with rococo ornament.