The Garden of Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo

The artwork

Low hedges draw perfect flower beds, gravel paths lead towards the water, and beyond the wall the lagoon opens up. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The green of the hedges, the white of the gravel, the blue sky over the lagoon.
• A serene and unusual picture that brings light to an entrance hall or a bedroom.
• A gift for anyone who loves gardens and secret Venice.

Anyone who thinks of Venice thinks of stone and water, yet behind the walls of the palaces there were hidden gardens, invisible from the narrow streets. This is the garden of Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo, in Cannaregio, the district in the north of the city. The Contarini were one of the most powerful families of the Republic, so much so that they gave Venice eight doges, that is, eight heads of state.

Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), the painter who captured the air of Venice like no one else, here leaves canals and squares aside and takes us into a private place: a formal Italian garden, with flower beds cut into geometric shapes and straight paths. It is a rare subject in his work, painted in the last years of his life, between 1775 and 1785. The original is in the Art Institute of Chicago.

In an entrance hall or a bedroom it brings the calm of a garden by the water. An original gift for anyone who thinks they already know Venice.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass