Although twelve views of Brescia engraved by Francesco Zucchi after Battaglioli were published in 1751 with a dedication to Cardinal Angelo Maria Querini, Bishop of Brescia (and re-issued in 1762 with a dedication to Cardinal Giovanni Molino, Bishop of Brescia), only two paintings of the city by Battaglioli have hitherto been known, a view of the Piazza della Loggia published by J. Urrea Fernández, La Pintura Italiana del Siglo XVIII en España, Valladolid, 1977, p. 90, pl. VIII (as Battaglioli) and subsequently sold at Sotheby's, Madrid, 31 May 1988, lot 23 (as Joli), and a different view of the Piazza del Duomo in a private collection in Spoleto published by R. Pallucchini, Conclusioni su Francesco Battaglioli, Arte Veneta, XXXIX, 1985, p. 175, fig. 3. Both of these correspond with engraved views and thus 1751 has been taken as a terminus ante quem for their execution (D. Succi, Capricci Veneziani del Settecento, Castello di Gorizia, 1988, p. 260).

The present picture also corresponds with one of the engraved views; it differs, however, not only in the figures but in showing on the triumphal arch the arms of Carlo Rezzonico, presumably indicating that the arch is that erected to celebrate his election as Pope Clement XIII on 6 July 1758. This suggests that Zucchi's engravings, which bear the inscription 'Battaglioli del', were after drawings rather than paintings and that those pictures which were produced may all be of later date