868515 The Doge on the Bucentaur in front of San Nicol簷 del Lido, on Ascension Day, c.1766-70 (oil on canvas) by Guardi, Francesco (1712-93); Louvre, Paris, France; (add.info.: The bucentaur (bucintoro in Venetian) was the state galley of the doges of Venice. It was used every year on Ascension Day up to 1798 to take the doge out to the Adriatic Sea to perform the "Marriage of the Adriatic" ??more accurately, "Marriage of the Sea" ??a ceremony that symbolically wedded Venice to the sea every year on the "Festa della Sensa" (Ascension Day).); Italian, out of copyright.