Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Henrietta Moraes that sold for £19m at Christie’s.
Offered at Christie's evening sale on February 14, it was one of seven large-scale canvases produced by the artist in 1963 and one of 16 portraits of the model. With the estimate 'on request' only, but thought to be £15m-20m, it drew a three-way phone competition and sold to an anonymous buyer.
Christie's 65-lot sale generated a £70.3m hammer total and the overall £86.8m for the week was their highest overall total for a Contemporary art series in London.
A full report of the Contemporary art sales will appear in a future issue.
