A drawing of the Molo in Venice from the Bacino. From left to right, the following structures are visible: the Zecca, the Libreria, the Campanile, the Piazzetta with the columns of San Teodoro and San Marco, the Procuratie Vecchie, the Torre dell'Orologio, Palazzo Ducale and Palazzo delle Prigioni. Many ships are shown in the quay and on the Bacino. The drawing is surrounded by a decorative border.

What is at first sight a straightforward view is distorted in several major respects. The Campanile is, as usual, too tall and too thin. Canaletto has extended the eastern façade of the Libreria, seen in plunging perspective and greatly enlarging the depth of the Piazzetta. The flagpoles are omitted in the Piazza beyond. In order to include the Prigioni at far right, Canaletto has squeezed the Palazzo Ducale widthways - the correct number of ground-floor arches (17) are shown, but they are much narrower than in reality. And while the degree of foreshortening (seen, for example, in the relative sizes of the Palazzo Ducale and the Torre dell'Orologio beyond) requires a viewpoint close to or on the Isola di San Giorgio, the boats moored off the Molo, especially the Doge's galley to the left of centre, give the impression of a view from just a little way into the Bacino.

The number and variety of related works (listed under C/L 109, including a painting reputed to have been painted between 1747 and 1750, when Canaletto was in England, and a schematic drawing from Bellotto's studio) demonstrate that this was one of Canaletto's stock compositions, and support the idea that he was more interested in the border than in the drawing itself.

Catalogue entry adapted from Canaletto in Venice, London, 2005