Follower of Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto

Dimitri Tziracopoulos, Berlin and Athens;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas is lined. There is a slight loss of tension leading to moderate undulation in the picture plane. The paint layer is stable but there has been significant repair to two damages in the sky, upper right, the restoration of which has discoloured. There is what looks like a small recent chip to the paint in the sky upper left. Natural shrinkage to the paint and glazing layers in the water, centre bottom , and to the quay , lower right , have given rise to a fractured paint layer. The rigging of the boats has been augmented and the paint to the Campanile has been thinned. There is a discoloured and degraded varnish, the removal of which would make a profound improvement to the tonality of the image."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

A later copy after Canaletto's original in the Sir John Soane Museum, London (see W.G. Constable, J. Links (ed.), Canaletto, Oxford 1989, vol. II, p. 246, no. 122, reproduced vol. I plate 30). Canaletto's original was painted after 1726-28, when the onion-shaped steeple on San Giorgio was erected, and before 1745, since the façade of the church of the Pietà (seen in the middle distance to the right) appears as it did before its reconstruction that year.