The Bishop's Tomb, from Vedute

Unlike painting, printmaking allowed Canaletto to separate and combine images at his own discretion. He etched the outer two vignettes (1922.1381.10 and .12) on a single plate before cutting it in two. Then he reversed their order and positioned a third, unrelated segment seen here between them. This plate is the missing piece from View of a Town with a Bishop’s Tomb (1922.1381.8). Besides reusing fragments of larger plates, these mysterious composite prints appear to have little in common beyond the archways and statues they contain.