Depositing of John Bellini's Three Pictures in La Chiesa Redentore, Venice

Place

Artist Joseph Mallord William Turner found deep inspiration in Venice, which he visited several times in his career, producing many pencil and watercolor sketches and over 30 oil paintings of the city.

A loose painting of water, sky, and a row of buildings across the middle. Much of the painting is medium grey, with tan water, blue sky, and a large white and grey domed church.

Venice: The Redentore, with the Eastern Parts of the Giudecca Canal 1840 Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851 Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/D32183

A photograph of water with a line of buildings across the middle of the image. Most buildings are 2-3 stories and stone, except for a large domed church on the right side.

Though he sometimes depicted the landscape as he saw it, as seen in this comparison of his watercolor sketch and a modern photo of the same location, he painted Depositing John Bellini’s Three Pictures in La Chiesa Redentore with an additional narrative layer. Here, he features an imagined procession of festively decorated boats celebrating the delivery of three paintings by 16^th century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini to the church of Il Redentore.