This drawing comes from the Campagna sketchbook, the majority of whose sheets are signed 'Claude fecit' and numbered by the artist. The highest recorded number from the sketchbook is 60, on a drawing in the British Museum, M. Roethlisberger, Claude Lorrain, the Drawings, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968, I, no. 411, illustrated. Professor Roethlisberger argues that the sketchbook was carried by Claude on his excursions in the Campagna, and in some cases when the views are identifiable and where the sequence survives his movements can be traced. The drawings date from around 1639, as the drawings of the environs of Civitavecchia can be connected with his journey to Santa Marinella at that period.

The provenance of the drawing shows that it was one of the drawings selected by his heirs, perhaps to be offered to Queen Christina of Sweden. The heirs selected the finest drawings from all periods and, as the drawings were kept in an album, their condition is unusually fresh. The album is mentioned in the 1713 inventory of Prince Livio Odescalchi. The Odescalchi family sold the drawings in 1960, although 21 of the original 81 drawings were removed prior to the sale. The present drawing is one of those separated from the main group, and was published for the first time, along with eight others of the same provenance, by Roethlisberger in 1973