Joseph Mallord William Turner

The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally. Looking south-east, the Ponte dei Tre Archi, as identified by Finberg,1 crosses the Cannaregio canal near the campanile of the church of San Giobbe. Turner had made a more precise study of the same scene in the 1819 Milan to Venice sketchbook (Tate D14479; Turner Bequest CCLXV 86). A detail of a single bay of windows and a balcony, typical of the houses on the left of the bridge, appears towards the top left. There may be a smaller study of the bridge in the contemporary Venice and Botzen sketchbook (Tate D31896; Turner Bequest CCCXIII 54).

This is the first of a short sequence of Cannaregio subjects (folios 9 verso–12 recto; D31296–D31299), after which Turner travelled south along the Grand Canal. As noted in the sketchbook’s Introduction, the Venice views on its early pages are intermingled with German sketches from his return journey.