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. He also made a more extended trip through northern Italy and the Lakes at this time, where this drawing was made. Dated 20 August, it was certainly also made in 1851, as it is a pendant to PAE5643, which shows the stern of the same Lake boat and is dated 20 August 1851. This, in turn, is a study of the vessel’s bow.