A 19th century oil by French artist Theodore Gericault sold for a record $10 million yesterday, setting yet another record at Yves Saint Laurent's art "sale of the century"
A 19th century oil by French artist Theodore Gericault sold for a record $10 million yesterday, setting yet another record at Yves Saint Laurent's art "sale of the century".
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Christie's said the sale on the second day of 18 works by old masters and 19th century artists fetched a total $28.7 million dollars, including fees. Six works were not sold.
Barely minutes into the day two of the three-day sale, a 17th century oil by Dutch artist Frans Hals -- Portrait of a Man Holding a Book -- fetched almost three times its top estimate, going for $3.9 million dollars.
Bidding was also fierce for an 18th century Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, which went for 1.9 million euros, more than three times its estimate of between 400,000 and 600,000 euros.
But four works by Gericault failed to find buyers and another by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres that fetched 1.8 million euros was below its lowest estimate.
The historic auction of 700 works collected by Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge at its opening round on Monday smashed the world record for a private art sale with $261 million worth of bids. On the first day alone, the three-day auction dubbed the "sale of the century" broke seven world records for contemporary artists.