Ralph Toledano also confirms the attribution of this painting to Marieschi, describing it as ‘brilliant and strong’ (letter of 28th April 2005). The vibrant colour scheme, rococo curls of the water, the rich beige, white, reddish and brown impasto of the palace facades and the irregular sway of the awnings shading Palazzo Balbi lead Toledano to date the painting to the late 1730s, ‘the most enthusiastic moment of the master’s career’. He attributes the figures to Gian Antonio Guardi, who often collaborated with Marieschi.

The view depicts the bend of the Grand Canal known as the ‘Volta’. At far left is the gothic Palazzo Giustinian (Ca’Giustinian in Venetian dialect), begun circa 1452 by Bartolomeo Bon; Wagner stayed here in 1858-9 and composed the second act of Tristan. It abuts the larger and even more splendidly decorated Palazzo Foscari (1428-37), built for Francesco Foscari, who was Doge from 1423 to 1457. The centre of the painting is dominated by Palazzo Balbi, probably built by Alessandro Vittoria 1582-90 and today the seat of the Regional government. To the right are the seventeenth century Palazzo Civran, then Palazzo Dandolo and Palazzo Dolfin.

A smaller version (18 ½ x 34 ½ in / 47 x 87.6 cm) of this view by Marieschi, again with a different arrangement of boats, which Dr Succi dates circa 1739-40, is in a private collection in Milan . Marieschi also made a painting of this viewpoint circa 1741-2, Regatta in volta di Canal (formerly in the Cini Collection, Venice) with the Grand Canal crowded with boats and a temporary decorative structure (like those which Marieschi designed in the early part of his career) between Ca’Foscari and Ca’Balbi. This regatta was etched by Marieschi as plate 22 of the second state of his Magnificentiores Selectioresque Urbis Venetiarum Prospectus (1741).