Canale del Squero, Venice 1885

Andrew Fisher Bunner captured this view of Venice's Canale del Squero with pen and ink. The canal, with its gentle curve and mirroring boats, evokes Charon’s river, a boundary between worlds. Bridges, here stone and solid, are potent symbols of transition – think of the Bridge of Sighs, not far from here, leading to imprisonment, or the countless bridges in dreams, each a crossing into the unknown. Water itself signifies the subconscious, the ebb and flow of our deepest thoughts. The Venetians, surrounded by water, understood its dual nature: life-giving and perilous. In this context, the boats become symbols of navigation through our own psyches, akin to the barque of Ra in Egyptian mythology, carrying the sun god through the underworld each night. This little drawing, therefore, isn't just a picturesque scene; it is a map of our inner selves, a call to explore the depths of our own hidden landscapes.