What I'm reading - Campo behind the Scuola di San Rocco

John Singer Sargent, Scuola di San Rocco, c. 1903

One of my special places in Venice is the small campo behind the Scuola di San Rocco.  Small, hidden, it is private and usually deserted.  I've spent many hours there enjoying the quiet, the warm salmon coloured walls of the Scuola (which was built by Pietro Bon between 1515-1524) and the sound of the water lapping against the water steps from the the Rio della Frescada. 

Some years ago, I was leafing through a 2006 exhibition catalogue, Sargent's Venice, and my heart stopped - there was my campo, captured by one of my favourite painters of Venice, John Singer Sargent (1856 -1925).  Sargent apparently painted several watercolour views of the campo, but this version above is my favourite.  It captures the serenity and gentle beauty of the scene. 

If I so chose, I could purchase reproductions of this image on a variety of items - kitchen tiles, IPAD cases, drink coasters, even a jigsaw puzzle..but I'd rather let the memory of ths wonderful image dwell in my imagination.