Physical Dimensions: overall: 134 x 106.4 cm (52 3/4 x 41 7/8 in.)
framed: 151.8 x 126.4 x 6.4 cm (59 3/4 x 49 3/4 x 2 1/2 in.)
Provenance: Probably commissioned by Thomas, 5th baron King [1712-1779], London and Ockham Park, Surrey;[1] by descent at Ockham Park to Peter Malcolm, 4th earl of Lovelace [1905-1964]; (his sale, Sotheby's, London, 13 July 1937, no. 133); purchased by (M. Knoedler & Co., London);[2] purchased 1938 by Philip Hill; Mrs. Philip Hill [later Mrs. Warwick Bryant] until 1959.[3] (Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York); purchased December 1960 by Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia;[4] gift 1964 to NGA.
[1] Francis Russell, "A Suffusion of Light", _Country Life_ 187 (14 October 1993): 64, has corrected the traditional provenance of the Lovelace capriccios: "That the most prominently placed of the series-the overmantel-which alone is signed and dated 1754, is dominated by a reminiscence of the chapel at Eton leaves little doubt that the patron was neither the 3rd Lord King, nor his successor the 4th Lord, but their brother Thomas, later the 5th Lord King (1712-1779). He married an heiress and their son was sent to Eton. The original setting of the canvases was thus presumably in their London house, rather than at the family seat at Ockham . . . ." W.G. Constable, _Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768_ (2nd edition revised by J. G. Links, reissued with supplement and additional plates, 2 vols., Oxford, 1989: 1:146-147), reported the family tradition that the paintings were acquired with money brought into the family through the marriage in 1734 of Catherine Troye of Brabant to the 5th baron King, great-grandfather of the 8th baron King, 1st earl of Lovelace. The paintings are said to have been commissioned by the 5th baron and his wife, but since one is dated 1754, they must have been bought by either Peter, 3d baron King, who died in that year, or his brother, William, 4th baron King, who lived until 1767. See also Hilda F. Finberg, "The Lovelace Canalettos", _The Burlington Magazine_ 72 (February 1938): 69, n. 1.
[2] _Art Prices Current_, n.s. 16 (1936-1937): 192, no. 6548.
[3] _Canaletto in England_, Exh. cat., Guildhall, London 1959, no. 6.
[4] Typed notations from Mellon records by David M. Robb, 14 July 1964, in NGA curatorial files.