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This painting is a copy of a composition by Marco and Sebastiano Ricci in the Barber Institute, Birmingham. It represents an imaginary monument to the Duke of Devonshire and shows several figures admiring a group of sculptures on a pedestal among Roman ruins. The picture is bathed in a sunset light which enhances its dramatic atmosphere and underlines its heroic subject matter.

Sebastiano Ricci was born in Belluno, and later moved to the nearby city of Venice, where he studied with the Milanese painter Federico Cervelli (c. 1625–1700) and was influenced by earlier works by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) and the Neapolitan Luca Giordano (1634-1705). He fled to Bologna in 1681 and returned to Venice in 1696. Probably around this time his nephew, Marco Ricci (1676-1730) became his pupil. Marco fled shortly after to Split in Dalmatia, after having murdered a gondolier, and remained there four years, concentrating on landscape painting. He returned to Venice in 1700 and specialised in painting theatrical scenery. Little is known about Marco's artistic development, but he seems to have collaborated with Alessandro Magnasco (1667-1749) and Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1675-1741), whom he accompanied to England and the Netherlands.

This work was sold in 1948 as by Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) and mistitled The Fall of Constantinople. It is a copy after a composition by Sebastiano and Marco Ricci in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham. Sebastiano was responsible for the figures and sculptures. The original 'capriccio' belongs to a series of 24 imaginary monuments commissioned from various artists in Venice in 1720 by the Irish impresario Owen McSwiny to commemorate English heroes after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The original was probably painted in Venice and then sent to England. Sebastiano and Marco Ricci also made a second composition for this series entitled Imaginary Monument for Sir Cloudesly Shovell (National Gallery of Art, Washington).

The painting shows a group of people among Roman ruins with, in the middle, an isolated figure in Renaissance costume, accompanied by another figure pointing to a group of sculptures on a pedestal, with ruined Corinthian columns on the right. In the left background, an equestrian statue is supported by Corinthian columns. The painting is rather larger than the original, without an arched top, and bathed in a sunset light (instead of bright sunlight), with more atmospheric clouds. The glossy finish differs from the typically free and dry brushwork of Marco Ricci and the warm palette departs from Ricci's cooler tones. The play of light and shade is also weaker and less inventive than in the original.

The iconography remains obscure, but apparently follows McSwiny's indications for the whole cycle: 'The Ornaments are furnish'd partly from the Supporters and Arms of the respective families; and the Ceremonies supposed to be performed at the several Sepulchres, as well as the Statues and Basso-Rilievo's, allude to the Virtues, to the Imployments, or to the Learning and Sciences of the Departed.' The Latin inscription at the basis of the main sculptural group reads: 'HAEC [MANUS] [INI]MICA [T]IRANNIS', i.e. 'here is the enemy hand of the tyrant', alluding to Devonshire's part in the overthrow of James II and underlining its heroic theme.The coronet, the serpent and the stag probably recall the Devonshire family's device.

Several contemporary copies were made after the original composition, including a reduced 'grisaille', probably by the painter Domenico Maria Fratta (1696-1763) in Chatsworth. This copy may have been made as early as 1727, but the identity of the copyist is unknown.