He and his two brothers, Niccolò and Gian Antonio, had a flourishing studio in Venice; their father, Domenico, was a painter, and their sister was married to Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Francesco married the painter Maria Mathea Pagani, and their son, Giacomo (see below), was also an artist. From the 1750s Francesco produced vedute of Venice, as well as imaginary views, somewhat more romantic in style than the work of Canaletto and in which he placed more emphasis on poetic light effects than on topographic exactitude.