Tonight:
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The most lucrative sale of Old Masters ever seen has set three world records, including £29.2 million for a drawing by Renaissance artist Raphael.
The auction at Christie's in London last night made £68.4million, exceeding the previous record total for an Old Masters auction of £56.4million. Raphael's Head of a Muse beat the record price for a drawing by an Old Master by more than three times. The estimate had been £12million-£16million.
A Rembrandt painting, Portrait of a Man, Half-length With His Arms Akimbo, fetched £20.2million - the highest price for the artist at auction.
And a giant work by Domenichino, Saint John the Evangelist, set a world record for the artist of £9.2 million.
Richard Knight, of Christie's, said: "This auction was an historic event for the art market. Not only was it the highest total for an auction of Old Masters, but we realised two of the top five prices every paid for an Old Master painting or drawing at an auction and set artist records for three giants of European art history.
"Art continues to stand the test of time and the results seen at this evening's auction highlight that collectors will continue to act and seize opportunities to acquire works of art which appeal to them whenever the opportunity arises."
Other significant sales included two works by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The Flemish Proverbs, a work in oil on copper, defied expectations to sell for £1.7million and Saint John the Baptist Preaching to the Multitude fetched £1.5 million.
Raphael's Head of a Muse went to an anonymous telephone bidder. The work, made for one of the frescos in the Vatican, also set the second highest price at auction for any Old Master, whether painting or drawing - after the monumental Massacre of the Innocents by Sir Peter Paul Rubens which sold for £49.5million seven years ago.
It eclipsed even the Rembrandt portrait, regarded as the top lot, which also went to an anonymous bidder.
