Borlase Smart was taught by Julius Olsson and became a leading painter amongst the artist’s community in St Ives, Cornwall. He was a frequent traveller, especially to Italy, with an eye for the picturesque and the bustle of everyday life. From outside the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi in Venice, where this picture was painted, Borlase Smart could have chosen a commanding view of the ornate Ponte di Rialto; rather, he opted for the more modest Fondaco dei Tedeschi, next to it.

The traghetto of the title carried goods and wine from the Canale Casson, which links the Rivers Sile and Piave near Jesolo to the east of the lagoon to the centre of Venice. This painting was shown at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1928, where the Yorkshire Post noticed it: ‘Borlase Smart’s method ... with its use of transparent brown ground, is peculiar, but it is individual, and is employed with success, especially in colour, that justifies it.’