The 18th-century masterpiece captures Venice in full splendour on Ascension Day, with the Doge’s golden barge - the Bucintoro - at its centre.
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A work depicting Venice by 18th-century Italian painter Canaletto has set a new auction record for the artist, selling for £27.5m (€32.6m) - or £31.9m (€37.8m) with fees - at Christie’s in London.
Titled Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day (c.1732) and once owned by Britain’s first prime minister Robert Walpole, the work exceeded its estimate of $20m.
Measuring 86 x 138cm, it’s the largest major Canaletto to hit the market in two decades and was bought by a phone bidder via Christie’s director Alice de Roquemaurel.
The painting was last sold at auction in 1993 for 66m French francs (£7.5m/€12.2m), setting a record in France. Its companion piece sold at Sotheby’s in 2005 for £18.6m (€22m), the previous record for a Canaletto.
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