A remarkable Canaletto painting, celebrated as his finest portrayal of Venice and created during his time in England, is anticipated to fetch over £22.5 million at an upcoming auction.
Titled “The Bucintoro At The Molo On Ascension Day,” the artwork captures the Feast of the Ascension, a significant event commemorating the day Jesus Christ ascended to heaven in his resurrected form.
Christie’s auction house reveals that this oil on canvas was commissioned around 1754 by the King family, who later became the Earls of Lovelace, and remained in their collection for nearly two centuries.
The piece last went under the hammer at Christie’s in July 2005, achieving a sale price of £11,432,000.
In a related sale, another painting of the same festival, “Return Of The Bucintoro On Ascension Day,” originally commissioned by Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, was sold at Christie’s London in July for £31,935,000.
Andrew Fletcher, the global head of Christie’s Old Masters Department, remarked, “This is undoubtedly Canaletto’s most extraordinary Venetian painting from his decade in England, created in 1754.”
‘It’s both impactful for its enormous scale, as much for its colour, sense of pomp and ceremony and grandeur, and (it is) really just thrilling to be handling its sale.’
He added that The Bucintoro At The Molo On Ascension Day was ‘painted by Canaletto at the point in his career where he’s just supremely confident’.
The Bucintoro At The Molo On Ascension Day on display at Christie’s auction house in London
‘He knows exactly what he’s doing, and what it shows us actually is it harks back to his training with his father as a set designer, as a painter of scenery for (Antonio) Vivaldi and for operas, for plays.
‘Because what he’s done is he’s manipulated the angle of the (Palazzo) Schiavoni, that paving at the front doesn’t actually exist there, it’s more to the right.
‘So he’s created almost a stage upon which he’s placed his actors, those larger figures at the front, and then the backdrop is the most spectacular scenery you could possibly imagine for the backdrop of those actors.
‘So he’s sort of master choreographer in this respect, and that’s what I love about the painting.’
The son of a theatrical scene painter, Canaletto was famed for his depictions of Venice.
According to the National Gallery, he visited England regularly between 1946 and 1956, and painted British buildings such as Eton College.
Canaletto was the son of a theatrical scene painter and was famed for his depictions of Venice.
Andrew Fletcher, global head of Christie’s Old Masters Department, stands before the painting
The Bucintoro At The Molo On Ascension Day depicts the Feast of the Ascension, marking the day Jesus Christ was taken to heaven in his resurrected body
‘Canaletto had been painting views of Venice for about 30 years by the time he painted this. So he was very well practised’, Mr Fletcher added.
‘By the time he painted this in 1754, he was supremely confident with with the brush. He knew exactly what he was doing and he built this painting up from back to front.
‘So he painted the sky first, then the water, then he painted the architecture, and then he painted the figures.’
Speaking about the upcoming sale, Mr Fletcher said: ‘Canaletto has such massively wide international appeal that it could end up as easily in Asia, in Europe or north America.
‘It’s really impossible to say at this stage, the last painting by Canaletto we sold had bidders from all three of the previously mentioned continents, and I suspect this will be exactly the same.’
The painting is set to lead the Old Master sales in New York, which is having a pre-auction preview from January 29 to February 3 next year.
It will tour throughout November, landing at Christie’s Rockefeller Centre in New York from November 7 to 12, Christie’s The Henderson Hong Kong between November 20 and 21 and Christie’s King Street London from November 27 to December 2.
