File:Artgate Fondazione Cariplo - Bazzaro Leonardo, Chioggia.jpg

The date of 1922 and the label of the Galleria Pesaro in Milan, on the back of the work, make it possible to identify this canvas as one of several depicting Chioggia that were displayed in the exhibition devoted to the painter by the well-known Milanese gallery in 1923. For this show Bazzaro probably worked on this painting again, also restoring the canvas. In fact, pure pigment has been applied in two different places, where the tears are still visible, on the back. Later the canvas entered a private collection, then passed to the Istituto Bancario Italiano (IBI) Collection.

Of the paintings exhibited in 1923, this one can perhaps be identified as Women Hurrying (Chioggia) or as other scenes of Venice such as Canal (Chioggia) or In the Calle (Chioggia). It depicts the Vena Canal with the bell-tower of the church of S. Giacomo Apostolo in the distance; a group of women are hurrying along the canal bank, perhaps on their way home. A similar setting is to be found in other contemporary works by the artist such as Evening Gathering (Chioggia), exhibited some years later at the Galleria Monte Napoleone in Milan and, with a different compositional style, in Chioggia, (formerly in the Guido Antonioli Collection, Milan), both of which were reproduced in the monthly magazine Emporium, respectively in 1928 [1] and 1921 [2].

Then an older man, Bazzaro reprised a theme he had favoured since the 1880s, which was also treated by other exponents of Lombard Naturalism, namely Filippo Carcano and Mosè Bianchi. For this extremely well-received series of works the painter drew inspiration from the lively calli of Venice and nearby Chioggia, as in The Blessing, Fire! Fire!, To the Bank and Fishermen in Chioggia, or more intimate lagoon scenes like Prayer (in Chioggia).