Pencil, 16.5 by 19.5 cm

Provenance: originally a page from a sketchbook by the artist executed in Venice in May-June 1926; the artist's daughter, Angelica Garnett, from whom gifted to the previous owner

In a letter to John Maynard Keynes on 30th May 1926, Bell describes spending hours sketching people in the famous Caffe Florian in Venice during her 1926 trip there: "we have heavenly ices at Florian's most evenings & draw the company until they get too restive and suspicious." (autograph letter from Vanessa Bell to J.M.Keynes May 30, 1926 (collection of Morgan Library & Museum, New York (acc: MA 3448.77)). This is the likely subject matter of the present drawing and other sheets from the same sketchbook.

Other drawings (also probably from the same sketchbook) were previously with the Bloomsbury Workshop.