Bossoli travelled to Spain and Morocco in 1851 and the present drawing was most likely made during this trip. Another view of Madrid, showing the Plaza Mayor, was probably made then too. That sheet, together with two further drawings, shares the same Russian provenance as the present drawing. All were in the collection of the wife of Tsar Nicholas I, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (1798-1860). The four drawings were presented to a British diplomat shortly before or after the Dowager Empress's death in 1860, and remained in the his family for the next 130 years until they were sold at auction in 1990 (Sotheby's, 28 November 1990, lots 5-8).