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A remarkable detail in this drawing may shed some light on the original function of the two monumental paintings (presently in Waddesdon Manor) made after this sketch and affording a comprehensive view of the Bacino di San Marco and the buildings around it. To the right of centre, next to the large, dark sail, is the white façade of the church of the Pietà. This is not, however, how the building really looked; its present, neo-Palladian façade was not constructed till 1906, whereas Guardi reproduced the one designed by the church's architect Giorgio Massari, presumably in 1735, which was never built.
Rather than a composition sketch for the artist's own use the sheet would seem to be a presentation drawing, on the basis of which the patron made a change. This patron must have had access to Massari's designs, indicating a special relationship with the Pietà; all other eighteenth-century representations of the church (such as that of Johan Richter) show it as it really was, without the elaborate façade. The specific reason for this detail's inclusion may be the festive consecration of the new church in 1760, which would mean that the drawing (and the painting) was executed that year or shortly thereafter, and that the patron was somehow associated with the administration of the foundling hospital.
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