The drawing shows an elevation of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, with a plan of the façade relief and of the monumental stairway below. Built after the design of Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), the church was commissioned alongside other interventions on the pre-existing Benedictine convent including the construction of the refectory which Palladio designed in 1560. The interior of the church was built between 1567 and 1576. The façade was completed in 1611. Recent studies have shown that the realised façade differs significantly from Palladio’s original designs.

The elevation is composed of a superimposition of two pediments. The major pediment defines a three-bay temple front with columns on pedestals of the Composite order. The width and height of this section are defined by the proportions of the church’s central nave. Correspondingly, the proportions of lower pediment are defined by the side-aisles of the church. In elevation, the lower pediment is composed of pilasters and paired pilasters of the Corinthian order and features aedicule in the lateral bays.

The drawing belongs to a set of 66 measured drawings of Italian Renaissance and Ancient Roman architecture which the V&A purchased from Edwin Parsons in 1886. The Parsons set may belong to a larger series of over 700 architectural drawings scattered in English and international collections formerly owned by the British Consul at Venice, Joseph Smith (1682-1770). A proponent of Palladian architecture, Smith began collecting measured drawings of classical and Renaissance architecture from the early 1740s. Today, most of this material exists in a series of bound volumes at the Royal Collection (where the Admiranda Artis Architecturae Varia is kept) and at the British Library (which holds the three-volume Admiranda Urbis Venetae), as well as in loose sheets scattered in collections across Europe and North America including the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

The author of these drawings is unknown. However, their style and subject matter suggests the involvement of the Venetian architect, painter, engraver and theorist Antonio Visentini (1688-1782). A member of the Venetian Academy since its foundation in 1755, Visentini was affiliated with Smith and executed a vast number of architectural drawings for the British Consul as well as for a broader British collector base. Most of these drawings are scaled in English feet and consist of simplified plans and elevations of exemplary Italian architecture. Often produced as a series, the drawings were purchased by British Gentlemen to be included in their libraries and collections. The present drawing forms part of this material. The drawing is not signed by Visentini, but may have been produced by one of Visentini’s workshop members or pupils or by an unknown draughtsman working in the style of Visentini.