Visentini started out as a painter having trained under Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, a specialist in decoartive scenes. Better known as an etcher, architect and architectural theorist, Visentini is best known for his two editions of the Prospectus Magni Canalis Venetiarum, a series of printed views after paintings by the premier Venetian view painter, Canaletto, first published in 1735 and expanded in 1742.

When, Canaletto moved to England between 1746-1755, his main patron and art agent, the British consul in Venice, Joseph Smith, needed a copyist to fill the demand for Canaletti. Visentini was the perfect man for the job as he was refurbishing the façade of Smith’s Venetian palazzo on the Grand Canal during this period and would have had ready access to Smith’s vedute collection to make copies. The four paintings at the Wallace Collection by Visentini were probably made under these circumstances.