An old glue-paste lining over an old stretcher. All keys present and good tension, despite some splitting to lining canvas at the corners and joints of the stretcher. Original tacking margins removed, and a slightly uneven and lumpy lining with some minor distortions, and further minor distortions from blows. There are some passages of lumpy paint/ground? It is not clear if this is from the materials/techniques of the artist or a result of the lining process (see images taken in raking light).

There is a fine network of brittle age craquelure throughout, all stable. There is a futher network of more apparent drying cracks, some 1mm wide, with the greatest concentration in the sky and the water. There has been a widespread campaign of retouching to the cracks. The drying cracks in the water are filled with brown residue possibly of old varnish.

There has been extensive abrasion to the sky and a widespread campaign of overpainting/retouching. An in places the underlayers of the painting are visible. The paintlayers in the buildings and canal are in much better condition, although there is a little abrasion to the boats and some halftones in the buildings. There is thick brown reinforcing retouching to the shadows and peaked roof of the campanile.

There are remnants of an old varnish partially left on in the lower half of the painting visible in ultraviolet light. A fairly even upper varnish, and a layer of surface dirt and debris.

Examined in Frame

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