A majestic Venetian view at Christie’s

Des O’Sullivan says a Guardi painting may fetch €30m at auction

A majestic view of Venice by Francesco Guardi, handed down through generations of the Guinness family, will lead Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London on July 6.

The Rialto Bridge with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi is expected to make €30m.

It is being sold for only the second time since it was painted in the mid 1760s.

This painting is one of a pair of Venetian views by Guardi, one looking north, the other south. They were acquired in 1768 probably from the artist by a young English grand tourist called Chaloner Arcedeckne.

They stayed in his family until 1891 when they were sold privately to Edward Cecil Guinness, chief executive and then chairman of the brewing company.

Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) - The Rialto Bridge with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, looking south.

He was the first earl of Iveagh.

The paintings were kept by the Guinness family at Pyrford Court in Surrey.

In 2011 the works were separated when Rialto Bridge from the Fondamenta del Carbon was sold to an anonymous bidder at Sotheby’s for €31.7m.

A temporary export bar failed to keep the work in the UK.