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.
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Although Robb has depicted half of a bridge-like structure, the Ponte dei Sospiri or ‘The Bridge of Sighs’ is not visible in this watercolour. ‘The Bridge of Sighs’ is an enclosed corridor suspended above the Rio di Palazzo bridging the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace. The Bridge was christened by Lord Byron (1788-1824) in response to the idea that this view was the last a condemned prisoner would see of Venice. It is this romantic idea of the Venetian landmark that Robb conveys in this work. She has explored forms as they are reflected on the water. The result is an area of overlapping washes and colour. This gives a sense of movement and texture in receding light which contrasts with the flat blue of the canal side. The tones of blues suggests that Ponte dei Sospiri was probably painted at dusk.
