Diana and her entourage with a hunt in the background sold at SEK16.6m (£1,298,000).
The 173/4in x 2ft (45 x 61cm) oil on panel depicting Diana and her entourage with a hunt in the background had been entered for sale at Uppsala Auktionskammare - an auction house 40 miles north of Stockholm - with an estimate of just SEK15,000-18,000. A spokesperson for the auctioneers said it was being sold by an elderly Swedish couple and had been in the family collection since the 1920s.
At least four bidders - from Russia, France, Germany and Britain - considered this an autograph work by Rubens from the early 1630s. While bidding had started close to the estimate, when it reached SEK200,000, it quickly escalated in increments of SEK100,000. The winning bidder was thought to be a London dealer.
Roland Arkell
