Collection Online as of January 28, 2022

Abraham Welcoming the Three Angels

1750s

Part of a set. See all set records

Francesco Guardi

(Italian, 1712-1793)

Italy, 18th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 70.5 x 90.5 x 5.5 cm (27 3/4 x 35 5/8 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 56.5 x 75.5 cm (22 1/4 x 29 3/4 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1952.235.4

Location

not on view

Description

Three of the four pictures in the series depict episodes from the life of the Old Testament figure of Abraham, beginning with the angels appearing to Abraham. According to Genesis 18, Abraham met three men at midday, and, recognizing that they were angels, humbly bowed down to them with his face touching the ground. The encounter incongruously takes place before a marble, classical portico in which a woman lurks, presumably his wife Sarah.

Citations

Levey, Michael. The Eighteenth-Century Italian Schools. London: Publications Dept., National Gallery, 1956.

Nancy Coe Wixom, letter to Alessandro Bettagno, Oct. 22, 1969, in CMA curatorial file.

Pallucchini, Rodolfo. L'arte di Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. Bologna: Giuseppe Maylender, editore, 1934.

Binion, Alice. Antonio and Francesco Guardi, Their Life and Milieu: With a Catalogue of Their Figure Drawings. New York: Garland Pub, 1976.

Nancy Coe Wixom, letter to Alessandro Bettagno, Oct. 22, 1969, in CMA curatorial file.

Alessandro Brass, letter to Henry S. Francis, Aug. 15, 1952, in CMA curatorial file.

Morassi, Antonio. Guardi. Antonio e Francesco Guardi. Venezia: Alfieri, 1973.

Morassi, Antonio, “A Signed Drawing by Antonio Guardi and the Problem of the Guardi Brothers,” Burlington Magazine 95 (August 1953): 267.

Antonio Morassi, letter to Neumann, Nov. 24, 1937, in CMA curatorial file.

Alessandro Brass, letter to Henry S. Francis, Aug. 15, 1952, in CMA curatorial file.

Morassi, Antonio. Guardi. Antonio e Francesco Guardi. Venezia: Alfieri, 1973.

Alessandro Brass, invoice, July 5, 1952, in CMA curatorial file.

Alessandro Brass, letter to Henry S. Francis, March 29, 1952, in CMA curatorial file.

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 429 archive.org

Heinemann, Fritz. "Mostra Dei Guardi : Ausstellung in Venedig, Juni Bis September 1965." Kunstchronik / Hrsg. Vom Zentralinstitut Für Kunstgeschichte 18 (1965): 223-246. Reproduced: P. 238

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 146 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 146 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 143 archive.org

Exhibition history

Venice, Palazzo Grassi, June 5 - October 10, 1965: "Mostra dei Guardi," cat. no. 59, p. 412 (as Francesco)

Approved: Trustees' Minutes 6/21/1965

Oklahoma City Museum of Art (9/9/2010 - 1/2/2011): "The Allure of La Serenissima: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Art", cat. no. 7, p. 54.

The Allure of La Serenissima: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Art. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK (organizer) (September 9, 2010-January 2, 2011).