Throughout his career as a painter, Edward Cooke travelled extensively in Europe, visiting France, Holland, Italy, Spain, North Africa and Scandinavia. Paintings and drawings resulted from all his travels, but it is evident that the places that provided the strongest fascination for him besides the southern coastline of England, were the beaches and estuaries of Holland and the topography of Venice and Italy.

Cooke’s first visit to Venice was in 1850 and he returned there a further nine times before his last visit in 1877. It was on his second trip to Venice in 1851 that Cooke met and became friends with the critic John Ruskin.

In this view of Venice Cooke shows the decisive influence of Turner upon his depiction of the city and his treatment of light and atmosphere. It also demonstrates his love of architecture. In the foreground are two gondolas before the island of the San Giorgio with church and campanile of Andrea Palladio’s San Giorgio Maggiore built in 1508. In the background the masts of three vessels are visible, before the sketchily indicated buildings of the Giudecca beyond.