LONDON, UK.- Christie抯 will present The Champalimaud Collection for sale in London on 6 and 7 July 2005. In contrast to his immensely distinguished public life as a financier and entrepreneur of international stature, as well as a munificent philanthropist and benefactor to Portugal, Antonio Champalimaud抯 collection was a very personal quest, created for the enjoyment of his family and those close to him. The collection is expected to fetch in the region of �15 million, with proceeds to go primarily to a Medical Foundation that Mr Champalimaud set up for the nation.

Antonio Champalimaud抯 passionate eye sought out the very best in every category, from French furniture and objets d抋rt, to European Sculpture and Chinese export porcelain. The crown of the collection is a remarkable ensemble of French eighteenth century pictures by a constellation of artists such as Boucher, Fragonard, Hubert Robert and Greuze. Mr Champalimaud抯 passion for Italian vedute, is represented with works by Francesco Guardi and Canaletto, whose spectacular view of The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day (estimate: �4,000,000-6,000,000) dominated the staircase of the h魌el particulier in Lisbon that Antonio Champalimaud restored with such dedication.

OLD MASTER PICTURES - 揂 search for high artistic quality, distinguished provenances and a keen eye for the beautiful and decorative unite this exquisite group of pictures from eighteenth-century France and Italy,� says Paul Raison, Head of Old Master Paintings, London.

The undoubted star of the picture collection is Canaletto's View of the Molo, Venice, with the Doge's Barge, the Bucintoro, prominently moored in front of the latter's palace. The Ascension Day celebrations are almost certainly shown, when tourists flocked to Venice to witness all the pageantry of the events, here captured in a richly orchestrated palette, and produced on a scale that makes it the most monumental Venetian view of the artist's London period. The subject matter was popular with Canaletto's patrons: several variations of the theme exist, but this is unique in its vertical format and its viewpoint. Moreover it was commissioned, presumably as an overmantel, by the Hon. Peter King, later 5th Lord King, as part of what was to constitute the most ambitious series of decorative canvases of the artist's career.

More intimate in scale are Canaletto's views of the Piazzetta and Piazza San Marco (estimate: �700,000-1,000,000 for the pair) executed after his final return to Venice in or after 1755. Here light was clearly a prime concern, and the artist achieves a new fusion between his teeming figures and their setting. It was these particular qualities that appealed to his younger contemporary, Francesco Guardi, who is represented in the collection by two by two pendant canvases: the Grand Canal Venice with the Church of the Scalzi and the Lista di Spagna and the Island of San Cristoforo, Murano (estimate: �1,000,000-1,500,000).Two further small but dazzling Guardi抯, architectural capricci, painted on panel, that depict people dressed in the highest fashion ambling among ruins (estimate: �80,000-120,000 and �50,000-80,000) will also be offered.

The great names of French Rococo painting anchor the collection: Fragonard, Robert, Greuze and Francois Boucher, who is represented by no fewer than six canvases, including his coquettish Young Woman taking a Footbath (estimate: �300,000-400,000), 1766. This picture was presumably painted for Paul-Louis Randon de Boisset (1709-1776), receveur-g閚閞al des finances, in whose posthumous sale it appeared in 1777. Described by Diderot as `ami des sc鑞es, des arts et des lettres', Randon de Boisset was an avid collector of furniture, paintings and drawings, patronizing several artists including Vernet, Robert, Greuze and Boucher. La Jardini鑢e (estimate: �400,000-600,000), datable to circa 1754-5, is an exquisite example of Fragonard抯 painterly style not long after he had left the studio of Francois Boucher. It was acquired by Champalimaud at the London sale of property of Lady Beaverbrook in 1963. A beautifully preserved Head and Shoulders of a Girl by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (estimate: �150,000-250,000) is also offered.

FRENCH FURNITURE - 揟he magnificent collection of French furniture and objets d抋rt, acquired mainly in the 1950s and 1960s in Paris and London and mis en valeur by Louis XV and Louis XVI boiseries purchased in Paris, shows M. Champalimaud remarkable depth of knowledge and a very genuine love and appreciation of the decorative arts,� says Charles Cator, Christie抯 Chairman and International Head of Furniture. 揅oncentrating principally on neoclassical Louis XVI pieces, the collection is particularly rich in gilt-bronze and mounted porcelain.�

The Grand Salon, with its superlative Louis XVI boiseries emblematic of the Four Continents and the Elements (estimate: �150,000-250,000), is particularly rich in French furniture and ormolu-mounted objects, including an exceptional pair of Louis XVI serpent-mounted Chinese porcelain pot-pourri vases from Lady Baillie抯 Collection (estimate: �120,000-180,000) which dominated the mantelpiece. These flanked a monumental Louis XVI bronze and ormolu clock by Gavelle L抋in� a Paris (estimate: �40,000-60,000), while to either side of the Louis XVI fireplace stood a pair of transitional amaranth, tulipwood and sycamore petites secretaires by L閛nard Boudin (estimate: �100,000-150,000). A suite of Louis XVI giltwood seat-furniture by Nicolas-Simon Courtois and Pierre Bernard, originally from a Rothschild Collection (estimate: �70,000-100,000), and a Louis XVI `bamboo� gueridon almost certainly supplied by Dominique Daguerre and Adam Weisweiler (estimate: �40,000-60,000) also graced the Grand Salon.

A sumptuous suite of Louis XVI Japanese lacquer and ebony furniture, comprising a commode a l扐nglaise by Claude-Charles Saunier with inset Sicilian jasper top (estimate: �800,000-1,200,000) and a pair of encoignures attributed to Martin Carlin (estimate: �200,000-300,000) represents the highest achievements of the French marchand-merciers. Last seen at auction in 1946, when sold by the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at Christie抯, this commode and matching encoignures almost certainly entered the Buccleuch Collections in the early 1830s through the intervention of the `furniture man� Edward Holmes Baldock. A white marble group of Venus by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, dated 1749 (estimate: �70,000-100,000) also features in the sale. This follows the original terracotta model of 1742 which Louis XV commissioned as a gift to the King of Prussia, created as a pendant for the celebrated Mercury attaching his Sandals, today in the Louvre.

A pair of Louis XVI ebony and Japanese lacquer etageres by Martin Carlin with brocatelle d扙spagne tops (estimate: �250,000-400,000) are jewel-like examples which come from the collection of Baron Henri de Rothschild in Paris. A Louis XVI ormolu-mounted thuya commode attributed to Adam Weisweiler adorned the Long Wall in the Dining Room (estimate: �250,000-300,000). This was originally purchased by Baron Meyer Amschel de Rothschild for Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire in the mid-19th Century, along with two very similar commodes which bore the Versailles brand � one of which has now returned to Versailles.

The Sitting Room was dominated by Louis XVI oak boiseries and lit from above by one of the ormolu chandeliers after designs by Andr�-Charles Boulle. Its suite of Louis XVI white-painted and gilded seat-furniture by Michel Bauve (estimate: �120,000-180,000) sat alongside one from a pair of late Louis XVI ebony and contre- partie Boulle marquetry meubles d抋ppui by Etienne Levasseur (estimate: �200,000-300,000).

The Dining Room table was crowned by an important Louis XV silver soup-tureen, cover and stand by Jean-Fran鏾is Dapcher, Paris, 1773 (estimate: �100-150,000), engraved with the arms of Str