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.

This drawing was made in October 1853 and is closely related to PAE5746. It depicts a traditional Venetian market stall located on the canalside. In the foreground is a gondola loaded with baskets of gourds and other vegetables. Beyond is another gondola and gondolier, and on the bank barely outlined are piles of gourds. Characteristically, Cooke has annotated the drawing with noted of colours and objects: ‘purple’ and ‘gourds’.