A pupil of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Fabio Canale spent the majority of his life working as part of Tiepolo's team of decorative artists, and his independent style was strongly marked by that of his master. His first recorded work was a picture of L'Adottera commissioned for San Samuele in Venice in 1747, now lost. His major work undertaken in 1753 was the fresco decoration of Santi Apostoli, Venice.
Other drawings by Canale, comparable with the present drawing in technique, are in the Hermitage (L. Salamina, Disegni veneti del Museo di Leningrado, exhib. cat., Venice, Fondazione Cini, 1964, p. 55), sold at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 18-19 February 1981, lots 48 and 49, and sold at Christie's, London 25 June 1974, lot 193