This drawing is part of a group of seven drawings bought by Colnaghi from Mr. Nott in 1951, all of similar but differing sizes. Of the six other drawings from that group, four are in public institutions: the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (G. Knox, op. cit., Venice, no. 26, illustrated); the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (A.E. Popham and K.M. Fenwick, The National Gallery of Canada: Catalogue of European Drawings, Toronto, 1965, no. 104, illustrated); and the Detroit Institute of Arts (G. Knox, op. cit., 1992, no. 60, illustrated); and of the remaining two, one was sold at Christie's, New York, 12 January 1988, lot 34, illustrated in colour, and the other was sold at Sotheby's, 16 November 1972, lot 311, illustrated, as attributed to Piazetta.
George Knox, who confirms the present attribution, attributes the group to Piazzetta on the basis of another group of academic studies datable to 1715-8 in the Alvera collection, G. Knox, op. cit., Venice, nos. 2, 4, 11-5, illustrated, two of which were offered at Christie's, Rome, 11 May 1993, lots 117-8, illustrated in colour. Another group of academic studies by Piazzetta was sold in these Rooms, 13 December 1984, lots 66-9, illustrated.