A Canaletto portray will lead a Christie’s Previous Masters sale this February in New York, the place the piece may proceed the artist’s latest market momentum.
Titled Venice, the Bucintoro on the Molo on Ascension Day and completed ca. 1754, the monumental canvas was commissioned by the King household, later the Earls of Lovelace, and is the final recognized model of this celebrated topic painted by the artist. Christie’s expects the work to promote for greater than $30 million.
The work final appeared at public sale at Christie’s 20 years in the past, throughout the landmark Champalimaud Assortment sale, when it achieved a report value for the artist. It will likely be exhibited in New York (November 7–12), Hong Kong (November 20–21), and London (November 27–December 2) earlier than returning to New York for a pre-sale exhibition from January 29 to February 3, 2026.
“That is among the many best Canaletto work to stay in non-public fingers,” stated Andrew Fletcher, Christie’s international head of the Previous Masters division, stated in an announcement. “The artist’s means to unite pageantry and precision is on full show right here—capturing not solely the spectacle of the Bucintoro ceremony however the rhythm and construction of Venice itself. It’s a portray that defines why Canaletto continues to encourage collectors nearly three centuries later.”
The providing follows a yr of renewed curiosity in Previous Masters amongst youthful and crossover collectors. For a least a yr public sale homes and sellers have been more and more profitable in attracting purchasers from the fashionable and modern classes. Christie’s head of Previous Masters in London, Clementine Sinclair, informed ARTnews final yr that 80 p.c of bidders in its Previous Masters gross sales had been additionally lively in Twentieth- and Twenty first-century classes—an indication that the normal boundaries between accumulating areas are fading.
Earlier this yr, at a Christie’s Previous Masters night sale in London, Canaletto’s Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day (circa 1732) set a brand new public sale report after it bought for $43.7 million with charges on a $27.5 million estimate.
