“Siamo di fronte ad una offensiva concertata e organizzata in grande”: Antonio Morassi, Roberto Longhi e le polemiche intorno alla Mostra dei Guardi del 1965

“WE ARE FACING A LARGE-SCALE, ORGANISED OFFENSIVE”: ANTONIO MORASSI, ROBERTO LONGHI, AND THE CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING THE 1965 MOSTRA DEI GUARDI The Mostra dei Guardi held in Venice in 1965 was one of the most hotly debated exhibitions of the 20th century. This article retraces the critical history that led to the recognition of the distinct artistic identities of Gian Antonio and Francesco Guardi, and—drawing on previously unpublished documents from the Antonio Morassi Archive and Photographic Collection at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice—seeks to shed light on a debate that proved far more contentious than previously acknowledged. The exhibition, and particularly the reappraisal of Gian Antonio Guardi, was strongly contested by Roberto Longhi, who, through reviews by fellow art historians, articles in newspapers and popular magazines, and television broadcasts, sparked a heated controversy. Antonio Morassi perceived the episode as a coordinated attack orchestrated by Longhi himself, aimed at discrediting the entire field of 18th-century Venetian art studies. Art historians working on Venetian art offered no unified defence in response, revealing internal divisions, especially concerning the attribution of the organ loft in the Chiesa dell’Angelo Raffaele in Venice to Gian Antonio Guardi.