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Fabrizio Moretti

Courtesy Moretti, Florence

Canaletto's "Venice, The Grand Canal Looking East from the Palazzo Flangini to the Campo San Marcuola" (ca. 1738)

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What was the high point of your year?

I sold two panels depicting saints by Fra Angelico for €3.6 million ($4.8 million) to the Italian state, which returned them to the museum of the church of San Marco, in Florence. In 2007 I discovered the panels at Duke’s auction house, in Dorchester, England, and paid £1.7 million [$3.4 million] for them.

What do you consider the standout work offered at auction or at fairs this past year?

Something I liked for myself was the El Greco portrait of Christ sold at TEFAF by Caylus Anticuario, of Madrid. That is a really serious picture of museum quality.

What’s your best picture still unsold?

Canaletto’s view of the Grand Canal, 1738-39, from the collection of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman. We’re asking €12 million [$16 million] for it. This is from the most beautiful period of Canaletto, and it’s in perfect condition. The light is fantastic. If someone wants a Canaletto, this is the picture.

How did you become a dealer?

My father was a self-made man. He eventually sold works through dealers. I was interested in riding horses and show jumping, but then I fell in love with art. It was like a drug. I opened my gallery in 1999, when I was barely 22, and got the best pictures from my father. But all the contacts with clients came from me.

"Fabrizio Moretti" originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's June 2009 Table of Contents.