The Church of Santo Spirito, begun by the Augustinian Regular Canons shortly before the outbreak of the Cambrai Wars in 1509, was almost entirely built decades later to the design of Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570). It was the original location of Titian's ceiling paintings Cain slaying Abel, The Sacrifice of Abraham and David slaying Goliath, which were transferred with other works of art to the Church of Santa Maria della Salute in 1656 when the Order was suppressed. The church was demolished in the Napoleonic period.

Although no other paintings of the island by Francesco Guardi seem to be recorded, the subject was particularly popular with his nephew Giacomo, being depicted in canvases in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Old Master Gallery, A Summary Catalogue, 1991, p. 51, illustrated) and sold at Sotheby's, New York, January 17, 1985, lot 15, and Christie's, London, July 9, 1993, lot 96, and in gouaches in the Museo Correr, Venice (A. Dorigato, catalogue of the exhibition, L'Altra Venezia di Giacomo Guardi, Ala Napoleonica, Venice, May-June 1977, p. 33, no. 11, illustrated) and sold at Phillips, London, April 20, 1993, lot 81B