A drawing of part of the lower section of Grand Canal in Venice. On the left is the Ca' Rezzonico, Palazzo Giustinian and Ca' Foscari. In the centre, at the bend of the canal is Palazzo Balbi. To its left is the bell tower of the Frari, and to its right the belltower of San Tomà. On the right are Palazzo Moro-Lin and Palazzo Malipiero.

The view shows the sharp bend at the south-west of the Grand Canal, known as the Volta del Canal. To the left is the incomplete Ca’ Rezzonico, begun in 1649 by Longhena for the Bon family but built only as far as the first floor by the time of Longhena’s death in 1682. A temporary roof was placed over this part, as seen here, and work did not resume until the Rezzonico family bought the palace in 1750 and commissioned Giorgio Massari to complete the building. It now houses the Museum of Eighteenth-Century Venice.

Beyond are two large fifteenth-century palaces, Palazzo Giustinian and Ca’ Foscari. As the canal curves around, Palazzo Balbi is seen almost frontally, built in the late sixteenth century to the designs of the sculptor Alessandro Vittoria, with the belltowers of the Frari to the left and San Tomà (the upper part seen here since demolished) to the right. In shadow on the right bank is the foreshortened façade of Palazzo Moro-Lin, and at the right edge of the sheet the corner of Palazzo Malipiero. The motley buildings in between, bordering Campo San Samuele, were replaced after 1749 by Massari’s Palazzo Grassi, now an exhibition centre. A burchiello (passenger barge) is under tow in the right foreground.

The drawing was constructed from four openings of the Sketchbook, though here Canaletto moved Palazzo Malipiero in to the left to eliminate some of the buildings in Campo San Samuele; Bellotto’s copy (Darmstadt, AE 2203) shows all the buildings seen in the Sketchbook and may record an alternative version of the drawing by Canaletto. The painting at Woburn Abbey maintains the proportions of the buildings to the left, but dramatically opens out the façade of Palazzo Moro-Lin to dominate the right side of the composition.

Catalogue entry adapted from Canaletto in Venice, London, 2005