Michele Marieschi lived only a brief life, but has gone down in the history of Italian art as a painter, engraver, architect and stage designer. Marieschi's townscapes - vedute - recorded the Venice of his day. He precisely reproduces architectural details and numerous features of city life, while not losing the integrity of the general impression. The unity of tone and the light airy manner of execution make it possible to regard him as a forerunner of Francesco Guardi. The shop-lined Rialto Bridge and the adjoining embankments were the trade and business centre of Venice.
The painting was acquired from the St Petersburg collection of Andrei Italinsky in 1829.