A corner of the Piazza di San Marco showing part of the Cardinals' Palace, Venice

The present watercolour was probably executed as part of a commission for Charles Seely, M.P. for Lincoln and a wealthy corn-merchant. Seely commissioned Birket Foster to paint fifty watercolours of Venice as a result of having seen an example of his work at Agnew's. The commission fee was £5000, making it the largest commission he ever received and one he was working on from 1871-1877 (see J. Reynolds, Birket Foster, Frome and London, 1984, pp. 136-7). According to Reynolds (op. cit., p. 200) the collection was dispersed soon after 1928 with only two watercolours remaining in the family.