A pair of 19th century Venetian views by Italian artist Francesco Zanin proved to be the high point of a Silver Jubilee auction held by Ewbank auctioneers of Surrey on September 20 and provided their owner, a local Dorking family, with an unexpected financial bonus when they sold for multiples of their original estimates.
The two oils on canvas were typical of the artist's oeuvre:
Grand Canal scenes conceived in the tradition of earlier Venetian
vedute by the likes of Canaletto and Guardi. Each was signed and
dated 1866, they measured approximately 17in x 2ft 1in (43 x
63.5cm) and were estimated at £3000-5000 apiece.
They had been in the family since the 1920s when they were
purchased by the vendor's father, who travelled extensively.
At the sale last week they attracted considerable interest with
bidding from no fewer than ten phone lines including half a dozen
Italian bidders. The first canvas to be offered, show here,
depicting The Doge's Palace to the foreground, went to a London
dealer bidding in the room for £33,000 while the second, which
showed the Church of Santa Maria della Salute in the distance, went
to a Midlands dealer on the phone for £25,000.
Anne Crane
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