Three albums of Ghezzi caricatures are often said to have been assembled for King Charles VII of Naples, taken by him to Spain when he became King Charles III in 1759, then passed down in the Spanish Royal collection to Joseph Bonaparte (reigned 1808-13), and seized in 1813 by the first Duke of Wellington. The Morgan album does come from the Wellington collection, but the title page of the Morgan album notes that it was assembled in Rome in 1780, and the earliest provenance thus remains unclear.
Inscribed on title page, in pen and brown ink, "DISEGNI ORIGINALI / RAPPRESENTATI / ALCUNI RITRATTI IN CARICATURA / FATTI DAL CAVALIERE / PIER LEONE GHEZZI / PITTORE ROMANO / TOMO II. / ROMA MDCCLXXX"; some drawings inscribed at lower edge, by the artist with name and description of subject, in pen and brown ink; below each drawing, in another hand, the name of the subject, in pen and brown ink; each leaf numbered at upper right, in pen and brown ink.
Wellington, Duke of, former owner.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Nineteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978-1980. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, p. 194.