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English Follower of Antonio Canal, called il Canaletto(Venice 1697-1768)The Bucintoro returning to the Molo on Ascension day, Venice
Sold for £63,900 inc. premium
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Poppy Harvey-Jones
Head of Sale

Lisa Greaves
Head of Department
English Follower of Antonio Canal, called il Canaletto (Venice 1697-1768)
oil on canvas
75.9 x 126.8cm (29 7/8 x 49 15/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
With Richard Green, London (according to a label on the reverse)
Sale, Christie's, New York, 15 April 2008, lot 56 (as William James)
Private Collection, UK
The ceremony of the Spozalizio del Mar or Marriage of the Sea took place on Ascension Day. It relates to a peace treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the papacy in 1178, when Doge Sebastian Ziani was granted by Pope Alexander III the ring with which he and his successors were to celebrate the marriage of the republic to the sea.
The Bucintoro or State Barge was brought from the Arsenal and moored at the Molo, where the High Admiral, Doge and other notable figures boarded the upper deck on Ascension Day. The Bucintoro was rowed to Porto di Lido, escorted by numerous small vessels, where the gold ring was blessed and cast into the sea.
The present work is based on Canaletto's original, formerly in the collection of Sir Robert Walpole and recorded hanging at Downing Street in 1736, later in the collection of Sampson Gideon.
