I. Who Was Ennio Guardi? Ennio Guardi was an Italian painter born in the working-class district of Cannaregio, Venice. He is often called “the ghost of Venetian modernism” because he spent most of his career in obscurity, working as a restorer in the church of San Zaccaria. He was the great-grand-nephew of the more famous 18th-century view-painter Francesco Guardi—a connection he reportedly resented, as it raised expectations he never fulfilled in his lifetime.
I. Who Was Ennio Guardi? Ennio Guardi was an Italian painter born in the working-class district of Cannaregio, Venice. He is often called “the ghost of Venetian modernism” because he spent most of his career in obscurity, working as a restorer in the church of San Zaccaria. He was the great-grand-nephew of the more famous 18th-century view-painter Francesco Guardi—a connection he reportedly resented, as it raised expectations he never fulfilled in his lifetime.