Christie’s (November 23, 2023) – Immerse yourself in a dreamlike vision of Canaletto’s Venice where the floating city of the 1700s appears strikingly unchanged centuries later. Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto (1697-1768), was born and died in Venice.

Did Canaletto paint these paired views of Venice for the Countess of Essex?

Home for most of his life, the city was also the artistic subject that dominated his career. Canaletto helped establish the veduta — or topographical view — as one of the chief genres of Venetian painting in the 18th century, as well as a prime export. A pair of vedute by Canaletto, unknown to scholars until now, will lead the Old Masters Part I sale at Christie’s in London on 7 December 2023, as part of Classic Week.

Coming from a private collection, these masterpieces were painted around 1734, when Canaletto was at the peak of his powers, almost certainly for an English patron.

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