The evidence provided by the inscription that Turner was numbering a series of Venice views suggests his practice of about 1840 (cf. the Lucerne series with 'L' numbers, e.g. CCCLXIV-182, 183, etc.). The colour of these Venice studies on grey paper is often identical with that of white-paper watercolours generally agreed to date from 1840. Although the Campanile of St. Mark's was covered with scaffolding in 1840, but probably not in 1833, it seems likely that in most cases Turner omitted the scaffolding and indicated in his drawings what he knew to be the architecture beneath it (see, however, No.558).

The technique of this series of drawings on grey paper is similar to that of the views on the Rhine and at Botzen, on paper of the same type and size, CCCLXIV292 to 301 (see No. 582).