Anon. [Horace Walpole?], A Catalogue of Sir Robert Walpole"s Pictures in Downing Street, Westminster , Ms. 1736 (part of a complete catalogue of Sir Robert Walpole"s collection of pictures bound into Horace Walpole"s personal copy of the Aedes Walpolianae .., 2nd ed. of 1752, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, PML 7586), no. 125, as ‘The Doge of Venice in His Barge, with Gondola"s & Masqueraders. Canaletti. 2-9½ 4-5¾" and as hanging in the Parlour (with its pendant).
R. and J. Dodsley, London and its Environs described, containing An Account of whatever is most remarkable for Grandeur, Elegance, Curiosity or use, In the City and in the Country Twenty Miles round it , London, 1761, I, p. 272, as ‘Ditto, with the Doge marrying the sea. Its companion" Height 2 feet 9 inc. Breadth 4 Feet 6 inc. [Painted by] Canaletti".
T. Martyn, The English Connoisseur: containing an Account of Whatever is Curious in Painting, Sculpture, & c. In the Palaces and Seats of the Nobility and Principal Gentry of England, both in Town and Country , London, 1766, I, p. 12 (repeating Dodsley).
E.W. Brayley, The Beauties of England and Wales… , VII, London, 1808, p. 546, as ‘the collection of pictures evince a very judicious choice: among them is a view of Venice, and its companion, with the ceremony of the Doge marrying the Sea, by Canaletti".
Exhibition review in The Atlas , 947, XIX, 6 July 1844, p. 456, as ‘one of the unrivalled artist"s masterpieces".
Pictures at Belvedere , 1856, p. 3, as hanging in the Dining Room with its pendant, this one to the right of the chimneypiece [This document is known from a typescript in the library of the National Gallery, London, entitled Pictures at Belvedere 1856. Copy of a Manuscript Catalogue . The paintings by Canaletto are recorded on p. 2 of the typescript.]
G.F. Waagen, Galleries an Cabinets of Art in Great Britain , London, 1857, p. 282, as hanging in the Dining Room and described (with its pendant) as ‘Good specimens of the master".
E.J. Climenson, Passages from the Diaries of Mrs Philip Lybbe Powys of Hardwick House, Oxon. A.D. 1756 to 1808 , London, 1899, p. 150, noting that she recorded in her diary in 1771 having seen ‘two views of Venice by Canaletti" shortly before the remodelling of Belvedere.
A. Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912 , London, 1913, I, pp. 143 and 144.
V. Moschini, Canaletto , London and Milan, 1954, p. 22-26, illus. fig. 114 and pl. 16 (colour detail), as datable to circa 1730 and in the collection of Mario Crespi, Milan.
W.G. Constable, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768 , Oxford, 1962, I, illus. pl. 64; II, p. 336, no. 340.
L. Puppi, L"opera completa del Canaletto , Milan, 1968, p. 100, no. 109 A, as datable to 1731-32.
L. Puppi, Tout l"oeuvre peint de Canaletto , Paris 1975, p. 100, no. 109 A, as datable to 1731-32 and location unknown.
W.G. Constable, ed. J.G. Links, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768 , Oxford, 1976, I, illus. pl. 64; II, p. 361, no. 340, as location unknown and without its earliest provenance (the painting"s connections with Sir Robert Walpole being then unknown).
J.G. Links, The Complete Paintings , St Albans, 1981, pp. 36, 44, no. 115, illus. p. 40.
A. Corboz, Canaletto, una Venezia immaginaria , Milan, 1985, p. 627, no. P205, illus.
J.G. Links, A Supplement to W.G. Constable"s Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768 , London, 1998, pp. 22-23, under no. 216( a ), and p. 34, no. 340, illus. pl. 271, fig. 340.
L. Dukelskaya and A. Moore, A Capital Collection. Houghton Hall and The Hermitage , New Haven and London, 2002, pp. 23, 24, 35, 52, note 133, and Appendix VII, p. 458.
C. Beddington, in Venice. Canaletto and His Rivals , exhibition catalogue, London, 2010, pp. 169-170, illus. on p. 169, fig. 72, as datable to c. 1731-32;
C. Beddington, in Canaletto: Painting Venice. The Woburn Series , exhibition catalogue, London, 2021, pp. 90-91, note 10, and pp. 181, 183, note 12.