Canaletto painted some ten versions of this subject, the most similar to this one being in the Uffizi in Florence. The prototype for the series can be dated to around 1730. The emphasis here is on the reflections of light on water and the city as seen from the sea. Boats are moored along the dock occupying the lower quarter of the picture, notable among them being the Bucentaur, the Doge's craft. Two gondolas and a fishing boat enliven the area of water in the foreground. To the right rise the prisons of Venice and in the background the San Marco Basilica and the Campanile. On the left can be seen the library and the mint. The buildings are bathed in a gentle light that floods the canvas; it is filtered through a gray mist rising into the blue sky that fills three-quarters of the composition, in the manner of the Flemish seascapes of the 17th century.
[Louvre Museum, Paris - Oil on canvas, 47 x 81 cm]