Turner sale breaks auction records

A Venetian masterpiece by Turner set a new record for a British painting sold at auction when it was bought by an anonymous bidder yesterday at Christie’s, New York, for nearly $36m (£20.5m).
Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio, a delicate sunlit view of clouds over Venice, had been expected to fetch around $20m (£11.2m), but the final bid far exceeded expectations.

This price almost doubles the current record for a British painting, held until now by Constable’s The Lock, which sold in 1990 for $21,153,800. It also comfortably outstrips the previous record price for a Turner, the £5.5m which Seascape, Folkestone fetched in 1984.

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