Anyone who has taken a gondola ride in Venice might recognize this spot where a canal called the Cannaregio diverges from the Grand Canal. Using the system of two-point perspective, Guardi built his city across the midsection of the painting, contrasting bright building facades with deep shadowy recesses. Always fascinated with the passing effects of light and weather, Guardi lowered the horizon line, allowing the sky to expand and dominated the upper register of the painting, while taking nothing away from the elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen strolling near the docked gondolas in the darkened foreground. Guardi was known to combine striking realism with invented embellishment, sometimes sacrificing architectural accuracy to enhance the effect of light and atmosphere. However, he painted the twelfth-century bell tower (campanile) of the church of San Geremia, exactly where it stands on the Cannaregio.