A drawing of sarcophagus in San Marco in Venice. The altar consists of a sarcophagus on a pedestal raised on steps. The sarcophagus is under a canopy, and in front of a large patterned hanging. On either side of are large candlesticks, with kneeling worshippers.

The subject of the drawing is the altar in the north transept of San Marco. A sarcophagus, which must contain venerated relics, is covered by a baldacchino (canopy) and venerated by figures kneeling on a carpet leading up the steps to the altar. The wall is hung with lengths of decorated cloth. The sarcophagus appears here much wider than in the finished sheet of 1766 in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg (No. 21112), where it can again be seen in the background.

It has been thought that the drawing might depict the reception or veneration of the reliquary of the Blessed Doge Pietro Orseolo. It is clear that Canaletto was not too concerned with scale - the candelabra would be immense - but the size of the worshippers implies that the sarcophagus is much bigger that the femur-length reliquary of Orseolo, and the form corresponds only generically with that of the reliquary (recorded in an engraving by Visentini, a drawing for which is 907680).

Catalogue entry adapted from Canaletto in Venice, London, 2005