Canaletto’s ‘View of the Old Horse Guards and Banqueting Hall, Whitehall Seen from St. James’s Park’ which is being offered at Sotheby’s New York estimated at $4m-6m.
The 17 pictures straddle a range of periods and genres, and include this London period Canaletto titled View of the Old Horse Guards and Banqueting Hall, Whitehall Seen from St. James's Park (estimate $4m-6m).
The 19in x 2ft 6in (47 x 77cm) oil - whose first owner was Sir Edward Wilmot, surgeon to both George II and George III - is presumed to date from May or June 1749, when the old, red brick Horse Guards had been condemned.
It was demolished shortly afterwards to be replaced with the Palladian-style building that we know today. The painting was last on the market in 1997 when it sold at Christie's in London for £1.1m. The collection carries an estimate of $22m-34m.
