Turner masterpiece sells for 29.7m ponds

LONDON: J M W Turner's great masterpiece Modern Rome-Camp Vaccino has been sold for 29.7 million pounds at the leading London auctioneer Sotheby's, a new auction record for the British master.

It was sold last night to Hazlett, Gooden & Fox on behalf of The J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.

The painting, offered for sale by a descendant of the 5th Earl of Rosebery who bought it in 1878 while on honeymoon with his wife Hannah Rothschild, was the top-selling lot at Sotheby's summer Evening Sale of Old Master & British Paintings.

There were six bidders for the painting, driving the price well above the pre-sale expectations and breaking the previous Turner record of 20.5 million pounds for his view of Venice, Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio, which went under the hammer in April 2006.

Further top-selling works included Jan Lievens' study of the head and shoulders of an old bearded man wearing a cap, from circa 1629, which brought 2.5 million pounds, three rare works by members of the great Brueghel dynasty; and a beautifully preserved panel depictring the Virgin and Child by Bernard van Orley.