A PAINTING BY FLEMISH MASTER PETER PAUL RUBENS, PUT UP FOR AUCTION BY THE ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY OF THE LATE PRINCESS DIANA AS PART OF A 'CLEAROUT SALE', SOLD ON TUESDAY FOR £9 MILLION. THE STUNNING ARTWORK 'A COMMANDER BEING ARMED FOR BATTLE', WAS PAINTED IN 1613 OR 1614, AND CHRISTIE'S, WHICH SOLD THE WORK AS PART OF ITS OLD MASTERS AUCTION IN LONDON, DESCRIBED IT AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RUBENS STILL IN PRIVATE HANDS. THE BEARDED MAN GAZING TOWARD THE VIEWER HAS BEEN NAMED BY SOME EXPERTS AS EMPEROR CHARLES V AND CHRISTIE'S HAD VALUED THE PAINTING AT £8-12 MILLION. THE PAINTING HAS BEEN AT THE LATE PRINCESS'S ANCESTRAL HOME ALTHROP FOR MORE THAN 200 YEARS, AND WAS ORIGINALLY DESCRIBED AS THE 'SCHOOL OF RUBENS' IN AN 1802 INVENTORY. SINCE THEN IT HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED AS A RUBENS ORIGINAL BY LEASING SCHOLARS. ANOTHER WORK BY RUBENS, 'THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS', SOLD FOR £49.5 MILLION AT SOTHEBY'S IN LONDON IN 2002, A WORLD RECORD FOR AN OLD MASTER. ALSO SOLD BY DIANA'S BROTHER EARL SPENCER AT THE AUCTION WAS 'KING DAVID' BY BAROQUE ARTIST IL GUERCINO, WHICH SOLD FOR £5.2 MILLION. A PORTRAIT OF GEORG PENCZ, DATED BETWEEN 1500 AND 1550, SOLD FOR £5.6 MILLION. OVERALL THE AUCTION RAISED £42.3 MILLION VERSUS FORECASTS OF £36.9-55.8 MILLION, AND WAS DESCRIBED BY CHRISTIE'S AS 'SOLID'.
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