A drawing of the Bacino in Venice. On the far left is Santa Maria della Salute. On the opposite side of the water the Granai, Zecca, Libreria, Campanile and Palazzo Ducale are visible. The Doge's galley, the Bucintoro is moored in front of the Piazzetta in the centre of the composition. Many other gondolas and boats are depicted on the water.

The drawing is very close in size and style to other views of the Bacino, though the present sheet is more extensively shaded in the water, this drawing with RL 7454 may have been intended to form a pair of views in the Bacino. It is even closer to the Grand Canal series, and may have been intended as an ‘introduction’ to that sequence of six views.

To the left is Santa Maria della Salute; on the distant horizon, the tower of Palazzo Venier delle Torreselle, to the right of the turn in the canal are the buildings around the Fontegheto della Farina. The church belltowers of the sestiere of San Marco protrude above the waterfront sequence of Granai, Zecca, Libreria, Palazzo Ducale and Prigioni, dominated by the massive Campanile, drawn unusually at its correct width but heightened significantly (only half of the shaft seen here should be visible over the roof of the Palazzo Ducale). Moored in front of the Piazzetta is the Bucintoro, indicating that this is Ascension Day.

The composition of the buildings has much in common with a painting at Woburn Abbey, one of two that are larger than the other twenty-two in the Woburn series, though that painting raises the viewpoint and extends the composition to the right.

Catalogue entry adapted from Canaletto in Venice, London, 2005