Guardi

Until his death, he was still searching for the last two, a pair of Francesco Guardi landscapes that he suspected were hanging in the home of an unwitting buyer in Florida.

The art museum that contains the Ringlings’ collection features works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens and Francesco Guardi, among others—hardly your typical beach boys.

Last week Christie’s sold a Francesco Guardi painting of Venice with help from a video of it sailing on a barge down the Grand Canal; last month Sotheby’s used New York street artists to promote a sale of old masters.

Christie’s video to promote the sale on Thursday night of a Francesco Guardi painting valued at 25 million pounds, or more than $32 million, shows the lengths that auction houses are prepared to go to find new buyers for old art.

The painting was one of a pair of large-scale Guardi views from the 1760s, showing the Rialto Bridge from north and south, that had been divided between the two children of Paul Channon, a British politician who died in 2007.