While the original purchaser of the picture cannot be identified, it is known to have been owned by Sir Thomas Neave, 2nd Bt. (1761-1848) of Dagnam Park, who inherited or acquired a substantial collection of works by Canaletto. His father, Richard Neave, a Governor of the Bank of England who was created a baronet in 1795, was painted in 1751 by Zoffany and is known to have made the Grand Tour, while his mother, born Frances Bristow, was perhaps a relation of the William (Billy) Bristow who speculated in pictures and works of art acquired in Italy in the 1740s; his parents were painted together by Gainsborough. In 1810, before he succeeded as baronet, Thomas Neave ordered a family portrait from the young David Wilkie, whose papers suggest how demanding the commission proved. The nine Canalettos Neave owned did not constitute a series and were of varying date; one described simply as a View in Venice was lent to an exhibition at the British Institution in 1824. The fact that the collection included a view of Rome, The Piazza del Campidoglio and the Cordonata, which is a variant of one of the Hollis series, may explain the former identification of this capriccio as a view of the Palazzo Barberini