SOTHEBY'S SELLS RUBENS MASTERPIECE FOR £49.5 MILLION THE MOST EXPENSIVE PAINTING EVER SOLD*

December 1, 2002 permalink

£67.6 MILLION AUCTION IS THE HIGHEST EVER TOTAL FOR AN OLD MASTER PAINTINGS SALE

HISTORY was made at Sotheby's in London this evening (July 10, 2002) when a completely unknown early work by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Massacre of the Innocents, sold for £49.5 million, making it the most expensive painting ever sold. (The painting brought $76.7 million, the third most expensive price for a painting in dollars). The work, a record for Rubens, is also a record for an Old Master Painting at auction. The painting was the highlight of a sale of Old Master Paintings which brought £67.6 million ($104.7 million), the highest ever total for an auction of Old Master Paintings.

Alex Bell, Head of Old Master Paintings in London, said: "We are absolutely delighted with tonight's result, which is the highest total ever for a paintings sale in Europe. The Massacre of the Innocents was identified by Sotheby's after being misattributed since the 18th Century. The appearance of this work at auction was extremely exciting and the price certainly exceeded our expectations."

Bidding for the painting began at £3 million and quickly rose to £3.8 million when Ben Hall, an Old Master Paintings expert from Sotheby's in New York who was on the telephone bidding for a client, called out "£6 million." People in the room gasped at the enormous jump in increments and then laughed when the auctioneer Henry Wyndham, Chairman of Sotheby's Europe, said: "Now I'll take £12 million!" While his specific suggestion was not followed, bidding nevertheless increased steadily in million-pound increments, with eight bidders entering the fray, five actively competing over £25 million. Several other interested buyers were never able to enter the bidding at all. Four of the bidders were in the saleroom, with four Sotheby's employees bidding over the telephone. The successful bidder was Sam Fogg, a London dealer in Western and Oriental Manuscripts, who was in the room bidding on behalf of a private collector. At the fall of the gavel, the room erupted in loud and sustained applause. Following the auction, Mr. Wyndham said, "in my 28 years in the art world, this was the greatest Old Master painting ever to come on the market. I have lived with it for the past six months and it has been a great friend. This has been a highly emotional experience for me."

The foregoing text is from a press release by Sotheby's. The painting shows the murder of children by King Herod following the birth of Christ. We wonder what Sotheby's could get for a painting of the police taking children for the Children's Aid Society.