A drawing of the Palazzo Ducale and Molo in Venice. The Palazzo Ducale is on the right, with the Ponte della Paglia at the far right. On the left is the Libreria, with the columns of San Teodoro and San Marco in front of it. Gondolas are shown on the canal in the foreground.

Here Canaletto took viewpoint seated low on the quay at the end of the Riva degli Schiavoni, and thus looking up at the figures standing on the Molo. The columns are in their correct locations, and Canaletto has drawn the of the Palazzo Ducale remarkably accurately, with the correct number of small arches (34) on the first floor of the Palazzo, and the differences between the windows on the main floor are correctly shown - the four to the left simply criss-crossed with wooden glazing bars, the two to the right with gothic tracery and on a lower level. The Campanile has again been eliminated; its pyramid should be seen over the central balcony, which would confuse the line of the pinnacles. The sailboat at left has been moved to the right to obscure the façade of the Zecca and the buildings beyond.

Canaletto studied the Palazzo from this angle in the Sketchbook, in rough pencil clumsily overdrawn (possibly by a later hand) with pen and wash.

Catalogue entry adapted from Canaletto in Venice, London, 2005