Esteemed artist and teacher William Merritt Chase regularly took groups of art students overseas to tour European art centers during the summer months. In Venice, while directing the last European summer session of his career, Chase complained about the incessant rain. Nevertheless he completed a number of small brightly colored plein air (outdoor) sketches including this view of the Palazzo Fontana, an imposing Venetian dwelling on the Grand Canal. The picture was well received when shown with the Ten American Painters, a group of American impressionists, at the Montross Gallery in New York in 1914. The picture retains its original gilded frame, now contained in a shadow box replicating those favored by Chase for small cabinet pictures such as this.