Executed at the height of Canaletto’s career, this is his earliest known depiction of the Bucintoro festival, a subject to which he would return on numerous occasions.

Recently brought to scholarly attention, the painting was first recorded in 1736 in the collection of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first Prime Minister, at 10 Downing Street. This distinguished provenance renders it, along with its pendant of the Grand Canal, the earliest known work by Canaletto to have been displayed in an English house, predating the acquisition of Consul Joseph Smith’s Canalettos by King George III by nearly twenty-five years. 

Following the introduction, guests will be welcome to explore the full Old Masters Evening Sale exhibition at their leisure.