The Canal dei Marani, Where State Inquisitors Had Them Drowned

Giovanni De Pian, after Francesco Galimberti

National Gallery of Art

The image shows a scene on the water with two gondolas. In the center, a man is shown from head to toe wearing a light-colored coat, breeches, and shoes, positioned in a standing posture with his hands restrained behind him by another man. This central figure has disheveled hair and a distressed facial expression. The man restraining him wears a turban or headwrap. Beside them, on the left gondola, a third person, seen in profile, is dressed in a uniform with a coat and a large tricorn hat, rowing the gondola with a paddle. On the right gondola, two other men are visible; one is clad in religious attire, an elder with a long beard, and holds a cross in an extended hand, while the other man, cloaked, is grasping a long oar. The background features a dark sky with scattered clouds and a zigzag streak resembling lightning or a comet. The water beneath the gondolas is depicted with movement.