Finberg later annotated his 1909
Inventory, which (presumably by a rare oversight) had not included an entry for this page: ‘From Molo, lkg. twds Lido, with S. Giorgio on right; also, S. Mark’s & D’s Palace’.
1 The Turner scholar C.F. Bell marked another copy: ‘The Piazzetta. 3 sketches’.
2 There are two main views, inverted relative to each other at the top and bottom of the upright page and separated from a largely blank central strip by horizontal pencil lines.
Towards the top, the most detailed drawing shows the view to the east from the Molo, crowded with moored boats, along the Riva degli Schiavoni to the Pietà church, distinguished by the thermal window on its near side, and beyond to the eastern end of the city. The panorama is somewhat compressed, bringing in the easternmost lighthouse on the Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore at the right, to the south-east across the Bacino.
Above is a continuation of the scene, with the outline of the island’s church from the same viewpoint, to the south-south-east. At the centre right, with the page turned horizontally, is a quick thumbnail of its campanile and dome beyond moored boats.
Below, the second main view is the other way up, looking north up the Piazzetta from outside the Libreria Sansoviniana on the left, with the domes of the Basilica of San Marco (St Mark’s) beyond, and the west side of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) to the right. Such iconic scenes were likely drawn largely out of habit on this visit, their details having been established long ago; compare the much more thorough treatment from a similar viewpoint in the 1819
Milan to Venice sketchbook (Tate
D14399; Turner Bequest CLXXV 45).
Matthew Imms
September 2018
