In 1894 Annan travelled in Genoa and Venice with the artist and etcher, D.Y. Cameron. He remarked that: 'It has been when I have associated with artists that I have made my most successful pictures'. In this work, Annan has framed the posts in the water against the far towers and then waited until the oar of the drifting gondola has cut the skyline of the city at exactly the correct point to balance this striking abstract composition.