Joseph Mallord William Turner

Finberg later annotated his 1909 Inventory entry (‘Canal of St. Mark’s’): ‘Entrance Gd. Canal’.1 The Turner scholar C.F. Bell marked another copy: ‘Campanile with scaffolding’.2 This simplified and rather laterally compressed view, drawn with the page turned horizontally, shows the Dogana to the west on the left, with the domes of Santa Maria della Salute beyond on the south side of the entrance to the Grand Canal. Outlined on the right is a rough indication of buildings along the Molo waterfront with the campanile of San Marco (St Mark’) above; the schematic banding around its spire indicates the scaffolding noted by Bell, a key feature in the dating of 1840 views (see the Introduction to the tour).

The viewpoint appears to be the Bacino somewhere midway between the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) and the Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore to its south. Compare the more detailed views on the verso (D31804).