GUARDI FRANCESCO

GUARDI FRANCESCO
FRANCESCO GUARDI (1712-1793)
'L'andata del Bucintoro a San Nicolò di
Lido' oliocm. 71x48This
view attributed to Francesco Guardi represents one of the most important annual celebrations of the Republic of Venice: the ceremony of the Marriage of the Sea on the occasion of the Feast of the Sensa. Established around the year 1000, the festivity symbolically celebrated the maritime dominion of the city. On Ascension Day a solemn procession of boats guided by the Bucintoro, the Doge's galley would leave the lagoon through the mouth of the Lido's harbour; on reaching the open sea the Doge would drop a consecrated ring into the water with the words 'Ti sposiamo mare'. As a sign of true and perpetual dominion' he declared Venice and the sea indissolubly united, reaffirming possession on the
Adriatic.

The canvas represents the initial moment of the procession with the Bucintoro passing in front of the thin island of Lido on which the church of San Nicolò stands out. The Bucintoro portrayed here is the sumptuous 18th century golden galley that was destroyed in 1798 shortly after the fall of the Republic.

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