In the centre of the painting is the three-storey building of the monastery, with a courtyard where figures stand. These include several Lateran canons, in the distinctive dress of black biretta and white rochet over deep, cream-coloured cassock. The monastery adjoined the church of S. Maria della Carità. It was redesigned on an ambitious scale by Palladio, who devoted three plates to it in the 'Quattro Libri' of 1570. A fire in 1630 and expansions in the nineteenth century altered the fabric of the building, making it hard to decide which portions of the painting are capricious, but probably the balustrades at the left and right are not entirely realistic.

This painting is one of a series of thirteen overdoors by Canaletto, all with the same provenance. The views are imaginary, but they incorporate recognisable Venetian buildings and settings. Of the thirteen pictures, nine survive in the Royal Collection.