Monet visited Venice for the first time in autumn 1908 and was captivated by the city's "unique light." He began a large number of paintings that he hoped to finish the following year: "It's so beautiful, I console myself with the thought of returning next year, for I have only been able to make attempts, beginnings." He returned in 1909, but most of the paintings remained unfinished, and he continued to work on them in Giverny. He completed them from memory in 1912, and twenty-nine were exhibited at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery that spring. This painting was apparently one of five views of the Doge's palace included in the show.

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Claude Monet 1908

[Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, and Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1912–31; bought from the artist on May 15, 1912 for Fr 12,000; sold 1931 to McVeigh]; Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, New York (1931–59; life interest 1959–63, relinquished and accepted by the Board of Trustees on September 10, 1963)

Paris. Galerie Bernheim-Juene. "Claude Monet: "Venise"," May 28–June 8, 1912, no. 17 or 18.

Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. January 1916, no catalogue? [see Ref. Wildenstein 1985].

Cleveland. location unknown. February 1916, no catalogue? [see Ref. Wildenstein 1985].

Boston. Brooks Reed Gallery. "Tableaux Durand-Ruel," March–April 1916, no catalogue? [see Ref. Wildenstein 1985].

Rochester. location unknown. "Tableaux Durand-Ruel," March–April 1916, no catalogue? [see Ref. Wildenstein 1985].

New York. Durand-Ruel. "Monet," December 1916, no. 9 [see Ref. Wildenstein 1985].

Chicago. O'Brien Gallery. "Tableaux Durand-Ruel," April 1917, no catalogue? [see Ref. Wildenstein 1985].

Worcester Art Museum. "Paintings by Modern French Masters," December 1917, no. 7 [see Ref. Wildenstein 1985].

Paris. Durand-Ruel. "Paintings by Claude Monet," 1923, no. 18 (possibly this picture) [see Ref. Sterling and Salinger 1967].

Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "Claude Monet: Exposition rétrospective," 1931, no. 117 (as "Le Palais Ducal vu de San-Giorgio," lent by collection Durand-Ruel).

Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. "Landscape Painting in the East and West," April 19–June 1, 1986, no. 13 (as "Venice: The Wogés Palace Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore").

Kobe City Museum. "Landscape Painting in the East and West," June 7–July 13, 1986, no. 13.

Yokohama Museum of Art. "Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century," March 25–June 4, 1989, no. 94.

Fort Lauderdale. Museum of Art. "Corot to Cézanne: 19th Century French Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," December 22, 1992–April 11, 1993, no catalogue.

Fort Worth. Kimbell Art Museum. "Monet and the Mediterranean," June 8–September 7, 1997, unnumbered cat.

Brooklyn Museum of Art. "Monet and the Mediterranean," October 10, 1997–January 4, 1998, unnumbered cat.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Monet in the 20th Century," September 20–December 27, 1998, no. 55.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Monet in the 20th Century," January 23–April 18, 1999, no. 55.

National Art Center, Tokyo. "L'Art de Monet et sa posterité," April 7–July 2, 2007, no. 53.

Basel. Fondation Beyeler. "Venice: From Canaletto and Turner to Monet," September 28, 2008–January 25, 2009, unnumbered cat. (p. 211, as "The Palazzo Ducale seen from San Giorgio Maggiore").

Arsène Alexandre. "La Vie artistique: Claude Monet et Venise." Le Figaro (May 29, 1912), p. 4.

"Vision d'art: Venise par Claude Monet." Le Gaulois (June 14, 1912), p. 1.

Gustave Geffroy. "La Venise de Cl. Monet." La Dépêche de Toulouse (May 30, 1912), p. 1 [see Ref. Wildenstein 1996].

Henri Genet. "Beaux-Arts et curiosité: les "Venise" de Cl. Monet." L'Opinion (June 1, 1912), p. 698 [see Ref. Wildenstein 1996].

Georges Lecomte. "Un radieux poème à la gloire de Venise. . ." Le Matin (June 3, 1912), p. 6 [see Ref. Wildenstein 1996].

"Art et curiosité: Une féerie de lumière et de couleur. Venise vue par Claude Monet." Le Temps (June 11, 1912), p. 4.

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX–XX Centuries." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3, New York, 1967, p. 143, ill.

Douglas Cooper. "The Monets in the Metropolitan Museum." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), pp. 300–1, 305, fig. 30.

Joel Isaacson. Observation and Reflection: Claude Monet. Oxford, 1978, pp. 45, 181, 230, pl. 136, dates it 1908–12.

Sylvie Gache in Hommage à Claude Monet (1840–1926). Exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 1980, p. 320.

Grace Seiberling Yale University. Monet's Series. New York, 1981, pp. 210, 379, no. 11.

Monet: A Retrospective. New York, 1985, p. 282, colorpl. 106.

Daniel Wildenstein. "1899–1926: Peintures." Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. 4, Lausanne, 1985, pp. 58, 75 n. 686, pp. 238, 240–41, no. 1755, ill.

Philippe Piguet. Monet et Venise. Paris, 1986, p. 79, fig. 11 (color), claims that it was number 18 in the 1912 Bernheim-Jeune exhibition of Monet's Venetian scenes.

Monet by Himself. London, 1989, ill. p. 239 (color).

Gary Tinterow in Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Exh. cat., Yokohama Museum of Art. [Tokyo?], 1989, p. 149, no. 94, ill. (color).

Roger Hurlburt. "Free Spirits." Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) (December 20, 1992), p. 4D.

Daniel Wildenstein. Monet or the Triumph of Impressionism. 1, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, p. 385.

Daniel Wildenstein. "Nos. 1596–1983 et Les Grandes Décorations." Monet: Catalogue raisonné–Werkverzeichnis. 4, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, pp. 821–22, no. 1755, ill. (color).

Joachim Pissarro. Monet and the Mediterranean. Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. New York, 1997, pp. 50, 152, colorpl. 83.

Paul Hayes Tucker in Monet in the 20th Century. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1998, p. 283, no. 55, ill. p. 51 (color detail) and colorpl. 55, .

David Gervais. "Exhibition Reviews: London, Monet." Burlington Magazine 141 (April 1999), p. 240.

Michael Diener Universität Saarbrücken. Das Ambivalente in der Kunst Leonardos, Monets und Mondrians. St. Ingbert, 2002, pp. 180–81 n. 484, pp. 192–93, 200 n. 531, pp. 210–11, p. 220 n. 591, pp. 224, 227–28 n. 609.

Tomoko Matsuoka in L'Art de Monet et sa postérité. Exh. cat., National Art Center, Tokyo. Tokyo, 2007, pp. 110, 114, 264, no. 53, ill. p. 112 (color).

Eric M. Zafran in Claude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 133.

Gottfried Boehm in Venice: From Canaletto and Turner to Monet. Exh. cat., Fondation Beyeler. Basel, 2008, pp. 196, 217, ill. p. 211 (color).

Monet visited Venice for the first time in 1908 and returned the following year, but worked on many of his Venetian subjects from memory later at Giverny.

This is one of five versions (W1751–1755) of this subject painted by Monet, all dated 1908. A sixth canvas (W1756), also dated 1908, depicts the same scene from a slightly different viewpoint.