San Trovaso, Venice, c.1904 (oil on canvas)

Sickert made a series of long visits to Venice from 1895 to 1904, describing it as “the loveliest city in the world”. He produced a large body of paintings and drawings of its architecture, canals and its people. Sickert was fascinated by the effects of light he observed in Venice and in this painting he rapidly sketches the sunlight just catching a building in the background, while the rest of the scene is shrouded in shade. His energetic and varied brush strokes imbue the painting with a sense of vibrancy and also urgency, as if he was trying to capture the scene before losing the light.