The Molo, Seen from the Bacino di San Marco

By the 1720s Venice had become the last great stop of the Grand Tour, and wealthy young Englishmen wanted a souvenir of the city before sailing home. Canaletto built a career on exactly that trade. This view looks across the water of the Saint Mark's basin toward the Doge's Palace and the columns of the piazzetta, close to the first sight a traveller arriving by boat would have had. It was a composition he knew would sell, because he repeated it around ten times over the years, each version differing a little in its boats, figures and light. The one in Paris is among the smaller, quieter versions. Its closest twin hangs in Florence, in the Uffizi.