An unidentified Bethesda woman submitted an 18th century oil painting of the Grand Canal in Venice that is supposed to be the work of an associate of Giovanni Antonio Canaletto.Canaletto's paintings usually command millions, and those by his acquaintances generally claim six figures.The painting was originally priced by the Chevy Chase auction house Sloans & Kenyon at between $6,000 to $8,000. The president of the auction house informed that normally with unknown work, they value it conventionally and set aside for the market to eventually drive the final price.

13 phone bidders, 9 of those who called from Europe, competed with live bids in the auction house. It sold to a bid in-house from an agent on behalf of a London buyer. The winning bid was $575,000, which was raised up to the final tally with a 19.5 percent buyer's premium.

The earlier highest bid for a painting in the Washington area was $442,500 for "Hampstead Heath, Looking Towards London" by British artist John Constable, which was sold at the same auction house when it functioned under the name of C.G. Sloan & Co.The buyer for that painting was also from London.