The Dogana, Venice, Sunrise

Callow first visited Italy in the summer of 1840, and made numerous visits to Venice over a 46 year period between 1846 and 1892. In 1840 Callow stayed in the Hotel Europa at the same time as J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). The Europa was in the Palazzo Giustiniani, at the mouth of the Grand Canal (the building serves these days as the offices of the Venice Biennale; meanwhile a different palazzo, further up the canal, facing Santa Maria della Salute, now lays claim to the name of Europa). Situated directly opposite the Dogana, the Guistiniani palace was the perfect venue. Callow's ability to capture the crisp light made his Venetian works particularly popular with the British public. The present watercolour captures the luminosity of the sunrise and the colours of the city with remarkable clarity, in a manner which recalls the best of Turner's Venetian works.

Venice clearly had a special resonance for Callow, as shown in his description of his final trip to Italy, in 1892, at the age of 80, when he spent far longer in Venice than anywhere else. He wrote, 'I started off with my wife on my last foreign tour to bid farewell to the many picturesque old towns which had raised so much enthusiasm in me more than half a century ago....Finally we arrived at Venice and put up at our old quarters, Hotel Europa facing the Grand Canal...After a fortnight of perfect enjoyment...we reluctantly left Venice, for myself at least for the last time' (J. Reynolds, William Callow, London, 1980, p. 150).