SOTHEBY'S SELLS TITIAN PAINTING FOR RECORD $16 MILLION

TODAY AT SOTHEBY'S SALE OF IMPORTANT OLD MASTER PAINTINGS IN NEW YORK, A NEW AUCTION RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED FOR THE RENAISSANCE MASTER TITIAN WHEN HIS A SACRA CONVERSAZIONE: THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS LUKE AND CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA SOLD FOR A RECORD $16,822,500 TO A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR. THE PRICE EXCEEDED THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF $13.6 MILLION, WHICH HAD HELD FOR 20 YEARS. A SACRA CONVERSAZIONE IS ONE OF ONLY A HANDFUL OF MULTI-FIGURE COMPOSITIONS BY TITIAN THAT REMAIN IN PRIVATE HANDS, AND IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO APPEAR AT AUCTION IN DECADES. THE MORNING SESSION ENDED WITH AN OUTSTANDING TOTAL OF $78.6 MILLION, WHICH IS ABOVE THE SESSION'S HIGH ESTIMATE OF $74 MILLION. IN ADDITION TO THE TITIAN, A NUMBER OF REMARKABLE AND RECORD PRICES HAVE ALSO BEEN ACHIEVED: CLAUDE-JOSEPH VERNET'S MONUMENTAL CANVAS, GRAND VIEW OF THE SEA SHORE ENRICHED WITH BUILDINGS, SHIPPING AND FIGURES, WAS SOUGHT AFTER BY MORE THAN SIX BIDDERS BEFORE SELLING FOR $7,026,500, A NEW RECORD FOR THE ARTIST AT AUCTION. ADAM AND EVE, PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN MANNERIST WORK BY JOACHIM ANTHONISZ WTEWAEL, INSPIRED HEATED COMPETITION DRIVING THE FINAL SALE TO $6,242,500, MORE THAN FIVE TIME THE HIGH ESTIMATE OF $1.8 MILLION. AND PERINO DEL VAGA'S THE HOLY FAMILY WITH THE INFANT SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS SOUGHT AFTER BY AT LEAST FIVE DIFFERENT BIDDERS, FINALLY SELLING TO THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, FOR $2,098,500.