Anon. Doge's Palace & Grand Canal, Venice after Samuel Prout

An original c.1830s watercolour painting Doge's Palace & Grand Canal, Venice after Samuel Prout.

A beautiful view of the Doge's Palace on the Grand Canal in Venice. Finely painted in watercolour, this is a scaled down version of a work by Samuel Prout (1783–1852) which was reproduced as an engraved plate in 'The Tourist in Switzerland and Italy' by Thomas Roscoe, published in 1830. Prout was a master of watercolour architectural painting, Painter in Water-Colours in Ordinary to King George IV and, later, to Queen Victoria. His picturesque topographical drawings found huge influence as lithographic reproductions in the various illustrated travel books that had become so popular.

This iconic Venetian building encapsulates the layers of history that Venice embodies, and it is described by Roscoe thus: 'This magnificent structure was for centuries the seat of one of the most powerful and terrible governments of Europe… The splendid chambers in which the magnificent citizens were accustomed to meet, where their deliberations inspired christendom with hope, and struck dismay into the souls of the Ottomans, are still shown to the stranger.'

On paper laid down on backing paper.