diff --git a/src/sage/matrix/matrix2.pyx b/src/sage/matrix/matrix2.pyx
index 0c04197c300..c3a8a5fbc93 100644
--- a/src/sage/matrix/matrix2.pyx
+++ b/src/sage/matrix/matrix2.pyx
@@ -8504,6 +8504,12 @@ explicitly setting the argument to `True` or `False` will avoid this message."""
             sage: img.save(filename)
             sage: open(filename).read().startswith('\x89PNG')
             True
+
+        TESTS:
+
+        Test :trac:`17341`::
+
+            sage: random_matrix(GF(2), 8, 586, sparse=True).visualize_structure()
         """
         cdef int x, y, _x, _y, v, bi, bisq
         cdef int ir,ic
diff --git a/src/sage/matrix/matrix_modn_sparse.pyx b/src/sage/matrix/matrix_modn_sparse.pyx
index c56684cc324..052fe1b9c98 100644
--- a/src/sage/matrix/matrix_modn_sparse.pyx
+++ b/src/sage/matrix/matrix_modn_sparse.pyx
@@ -560,79 +560,6 @@ cdef class Matrix_modn_sparse(matrix_sparse.Matrix_sparse):
             return list(nzp)
         return nzp
 
-    def visualize_structure(self, filename=None, maxsize=512):
-        r"""
-        Write a PNG image to 'filename' which visualizes self by putting
-        black pixels in those positions which have nonzero entries.
-
-        White pixels are put at positions with zero entries. If 'maxsize'
-        is given, then the maximal dimension in either x or y direction is
-        set to 'maxsize' depending on which is bigger. If the image is
-        scaled, the darkness of the pixel reflects how many of the
-        represented entries are nonzero. So if e.g. one image pixel
-        actually represents a 2x2 submatrix, the dot is darker the more of
-        the four values are nonzero.
-
-        INPUT:
-
-        - ``filename`` -- String. Name of the filename to save the
-           resulting image.
-
-        - ``maxsize`` - integer (default: ``512``). Maximal dimension
-          in either x or y direction of the resulting image. If
-          ``None`` or a maxsize larger than
-          ``max(self.nrows(),self.ncols())`` is given the image will
-          have the same pixelsize as the matrix dimensions.
-
-        EXAMPLES::
-
-            sage: M = Matrix(GF(7), [[0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0],[0,1,0,0,0,0,1,0]], sparse=True); M
-            [0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0]
-            [0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0]
-            sage: img = M.visualize_structure();  img
-            8x2px 24-bit RGB image
-
-        You can use :meth:`~sage.repl.image.Image.save` to save the
-        resulting image::
-
-            sage: filename = tmp_filename(ext='.png')
-            sage: img.save(filename)
-            sage: open(filename).read().startswith('\x89PNG') 
-            True
-        """
-        cdef Py_ssize_t i, j, k
-        cdef float blk,invblk
-        cdef int delta
-        cdef int x,y,r,g,b
-        mr, mc = self.nrows(), self.ncols()
-        if maxsize is None:
-            ir = mc
-            ic = mr
-            blk = 1.0
-            invblk = 1.0
-        elif max(mr,mc) > maxsize:
-            maxsize = float(maxsize)
-            ir = int(mc * maxsize/max(mr,mc))
-            ic = int(mr * maxsize/max(mr,mc))
-            blk = max(mr,mc)/maxsize
-            invblk = maxsize/max(mr,mc)
-        else:
-            ir = mc
-            ic = mr
-            blk = 1.0
-            invblk = 1.0
-        delta = <int>(255.0 / blk*blk)
-        from sage.repl.image import Image
-        img = Image('RGB', (ir, ic), (255, 255, 255))
-        pixel = img.pixels()
-        for i from 0 <= i < self._nrows:
-            for j from 0 <= j < self.rows[i].num_nonzero:
-                x = <int>(invblk * self.rows[i].positions[j])
-                y = <int>(invblk * i)
-                r, g, b = pixel[x, y]
-                pixel[x, y] = (r-delta, g-delta, b-delta)
-        return img
-
     def density(self):
         """
         Return the density of self, i.e., the ratio of the number of