Venice, Approach to the Grand Canal

David Roberts was a great traveler, constantly seeking new material and interesting subjects for the sunlit townscape views that were so popular with collectors and the public. He often went to France and Belgium, spent a year travelling round Spain and a year in the Near East, but only visited Italy twice - once to Venice and once to Rome. His Venice visit was in October 1851, travelling via Switzerland during late September and returning through Vienna. He made a large number of oil sketches, pencil drawings and watercolours while in Venice, using them as the basis for many paintings over the next twelve years.