The present picture has long been seen as of fundamental importance for an understanding of Guardi's beginnings as a painter of capricci and vedute. Generally accepted as one of the earliest surviving examples of the artist's work in this genre, the painting clearly reveals two separate influences, that of Marco Ricci, of whose very large (205 x 274cm.) picture (with figures by Sebastiano) in the Museo Civico, Vicenza (Bergamini, op. cit., no.56, illustrated) it is a 'simplified and livelier' (Moschini, loc. cit., 1956) reworking, and that of Francesco's brother Gianantonio evident in the vivid brushwork of the figures. While the unusual size of the signature would seem to show Francesco emphasizing his own individuality within the studio he shared with his brother, the artist is evidently still 'cercando la propria strada attraverso un soggetto a lui congeniale' and finding himself 'ancora legato nel segno al linguaggio di Antonio' (Martini, loc. cit., 1982).

The date of execution of the painting has, however, given rise to much discussion in the literature, Arslan and Martini proposing the 1730s, Morassi, Zampetti and Mahon the first half of the 1740s, and Rossi Bortolatto c.1750; only Succi has suggested a much later dating of 1765-70. A preparatory drawing is in a Milanese private collection (Morassi, op. cit., 1975, no.480 and fig.478); in this the architecture corresponds more closely to Marco Ricci's prototype than it does in the painting. A picture in the Kunsthaus Heyshof, Schloss Herrnsheim, Worms (Morassi, op. cit., 1973, no.703 and figs.660-1) is often regarded as the pendant to the present painting; although it is of similar size, is of a related subject and was also in the Lazzaroni Collection, Morassi and Arslan both doubt that it was originally intended to form a pair with the present picture and consider it of slightly later date