Capriccio with Gothic Building and Obelisk

Unlike the views of Canaletto, those of Michele Marieschi clearly betray signs of their creator’s youthful activity as a stage-designer. His decorative paintings seem to combine the tender freshness of the colours of Zuccarelli and the witty, rapid brush-work of Marco Ricci. This is the background to the Capriccio with Gothic Building and Obelisk, its perspective layout scenographically grandiose and its drawing delicate and colourful, its architecture and foreground groups brilliant and sharp, the landscape background diaphanously soft, almost transparent on the horizon of the lagoon beyond the ferry gondola.