A drawing of San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. On the far right the edge of the Campanile is visible, and the north end of the Loggetta. Many figures populate the piazza in front of San Marco.

The relationships of San Marco, the Loggetta and the Palazzo Ducale allow Canaletto's viewpoint to be located precisely, standing under the eighth arcade from the east end of the Procuratie Vecchie; it may even be observed that he must have raised his vantage point a little, by standing on a table or box. A study of the scene today shows that he did however make some adjustments to reality, primarily increasing the scale of the Palazzo Ducale by introducing many more arches, and reducing the central bay of San Marco and the size of the pinnacles between the lunettes.

The original drawing was a delicate outline study in light pen. At some point Canaletto turned this into a dramatically contrasty composition by adding areas of dense shading. This is particularly apparent in the entrance bays of San Marco, where a great deal of detailed pen-work has been obliterated by the heavy hatching. Two drawings by Bellotto (British Museum, 1910,0212.27; and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 53) correspond with Canaletto's drawing at the intermediate stage before the addition of the heavy shading, including the detail in the bays of San Marco. There is no closely related painting; a similar view in the National Gallery of Art, Washington differs in all details.

Catalogue entry adapted from Canaletto in Venice, London, 2005