Canaletto masterpiece sells for record €37.8m at Christie's 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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