Carole Robb is one of a number of talented British artists who studied at the British School in Rome during the 1970s. Like Stephen Farthing (b.1950) and Christopher Le Brun (b.1951), she rejected abstraction in favour of a figurative style informed by old master painting. This drawing is part of a group of fourteen works (E.3719 to 3732-2004) that illustrate Robb's journey through Rome to Tivoli, and the Veneto, that she undertook in 2003/4. As such, it constitutes a contemporary uprise to the V&A's numerous Grand Tour watercolours of Italy, dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries.

This gouache drawing uses abstracted lines to represent the silhouette of the church of Santa Maria della Salute against a stormy evening sky. The church, designed by Baldassare Longhena (1598-1682) is situated in the Dorsoduro quarter of Venice, opposite the Grand Canal from San Marco where its distinctive rotunda form is best seen from the water. The long artistic tradition of capturing Venice’s brilliant hues is evident in the predominance of colour that would appear to epitomise Robb’s vision of the entrancing effect’s of light and water. The sky’s purple and yellow hues and the thick washes of colour reflected in the water create the impression of dusk.