Giovanni Antonio Guardi

For most of the last two centuries the famous Guardi was Francesco, painter of shimmering Venetian views. His older brother Giovanni Antonio was treated as a footnote, and some of his best work was even catalogued under Francesco's name. The 20th century largely put that right.

Giovanni Antonio ran the family painting workshop after their father died in 1716, and trained his younger brothers in it. The family was well connected. In 1719 his sister Cecilia married Giambattista Tiepolo, the leading decorator of the age, which tied the workshop to the top of the Venetian art world.

His masterpiece sits high in a Venetian parish church, the Angelo Raffaele. Around 1749 to 1750 he painted the narrow parapet of the organ loft with the story of Tobias, the boy of the Book of Tobit led on a journey by an angel. Up close the figures dissolve into quick, flickering strokes and pale flecks of light, a loose and glittering way of painting that was unusual for its time. He went on working in that manner, mostly for churches and private patrons, until his death in 1760.