London, 3 July 2019: Moments ago in Sotheby’s Old Master & British Works on Paper Sale, a rare drawing by Canaletto realised £3.1m/ $3.9m, setting a new auction record for a drawing by the artist. A superbly preserved pen and brown ink drawing which ranks among the greatest that the artist ever made, The Presentation of the Doge in S. Marco belongs to a highly original series of twelve depictions of the ceremonies and festival of Doges, the Feste Ducali, the majority of which now reside in museums around the world. Imposing in scale and composition and brilliantly accomplished in its virtuosic lighting and handling of the media, the drawing is a masterpiece in the art of perspective and though unusual in the artist’s canon of work, is very definitive of his genius.

Earlier in the sale, a newly-discovered 16th century work by Rosso Fiorentino sold for £471,000 / $592,047, also setting a new record for a work on paper by the Italian Mannerist. Long thought lost, The Visitation is an extremely rare example of a chalk drawing by Rosso and the first compositional study by the artist to appear on the market for half a century. Although Rosso must have executed many drawings in his lifetime, almost all of his graphic works have been lost over the centuries and this work adds significantly to the understanding of the working method of an artist known for his eccentricity, and expressive, unconventional pictorial style.