LONDON.- Tonight’s Evening Sale of Old Master & British Paintings at Sotheby’s in London realised £39,310,750/ $60,660,418/ €54,803,067.

“As the market for Old Master & British paintings continues to evolve we’re seeing an ever more discerning and international collector base vying for a greater diversity of works. Whether it’s a work that transcend genres, such as Cranach’s masterpiece, or a ground-breaking still life created by a female artist over four centuries ago, we saw both new and established buyers from Europe, Russia and Asia competing tonight. Paintings spanning five centuries continue to surprise and excite.” ---Alex Bell, Joint International Head and Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department

• Six new artists records established

• Participants from 30 countries, with buyers from Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and Latin America

• Freshness of works: almost half the lots (46%) had never before appeared at auction

• 43% of works sold above their high estimate

• Pre-sale est. £35.1m-51m / $54.2m – 78.7m / € 49m – 71.1m

Tonight’s sale brings Sotheby’s Old Master worldwide total to date in 2015 to $187.1m

This brings the total for sales at Sotheby’s today to £55,994,250 / $86,404,727 / €62,569,196*

Star Lot: Lucas Cranach the Elder’s The Bocca della Verità, the ‘Mouth of Truth’
Never previously offered on the market, the painting was hotly pursued by three bidders, finally selling for £9.3m / $14.4m / €13m (est. £6-8m) - a new record for the artist at auction and almost double the previous record. This rare German Renaissance masterpiece is among Lucas Cranach the Elder’s most important works.

Property from the Collections of Castle Howard
• Four paintings from the Collections of Castle Howard together realised £9.1m / $14m / €12.7m, over the high estimate (est. £5.6-8.2m). Earlier in the day, five further works made £3.6m in Sotheby’s “Treasures” sale, bringing the total to £12.7m / $19.6m / €17.7m (est. £7.4m-10.8m).

• Ferdinand Bol’s Portrait of a boy (1652), realised £5.2m / $8m / €7.2m (est. £2-3m), a new record for the artist at auction, and nearly four times the previous record of £1.36m.

• A portrait of Henry VIII from the workshop of Hans Holbein, dated 1542, the year when the King’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was beheaded on the grounds of alleged adultery, made: £965k / $1.5m / €1.3m (est. £800k-1.2m).

• Bellotto’s view of Venice, painted when he was just 16, and working in the studio of his uncle Canaletto, sold for: £2.6m / $3.9m / €3.6m (est. £2.5-3.4m).

• Sir Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of the 6th Duke of Devonshire from 1774, known as ‘The Bachelor Duke’, made £365,000/ $563,000/ €509,000 (est. £330,000-500,000)

Further standout works
• Willem Claesz. Heda’s Still life of a roemer (1633) one of the finest Dutch 17th century stilllifes, made £2.9m / $4.6m / €4.1m (est. £2-3m) - the second highest price for the artist at auction.

• A newly discovered work, The Holy Family, by Italian artist Domenico Beccafumi made £1.1m/ $1.7m / €1.5m (est. £500-700k).

• A rare double portrait of the great Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, from the Workshop of Gentile Bellini, never before offered on the market, soared to £965k / $1.5m / €1.3m (est. £300-500k).

Six New Auction Records
In addition to the records for Cranach the Elder and Bol mentioned above, further records were set for:

• Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s unfinished portrait of the artist’s family sold for £2.8m / $4.4m / €4m (est. £2.2-3.5m/ $3.9-5.4m/ €3.5-4.9m), a record for a single work by the artist.

• One of the earliest Italian still lifes by female artist Fede Galizia’s sold for £1.6m / $2.4m / €2.2m (est. £1.2-1.8m/ $1.9-2.8m/ €1.7-2.5m)

• Joseph Heintz the Elder’s recently rediscovered work Diana and Callisto made a record in sterling: £485k / $748k / €676k (est. £300-400k/ $463-620k/ €423-565k)

• John Martin’s Paradise-Lost–inspired masterpiece sold for £2.7m / $4.2m / €3.8m (est. £23m/ $3-4.6m/ €2.8-4.2m)

“Treasures” auction results
This afternoon’s “Treasures” sale totalled £12m/ $18.6/ €16.8m. Highlights included:

• A parcel-gilt silver standing salt, circa 1560, recently restituted to the heirs of Emma Budge by the Ashmolean Museum, soared to £1.03m/ $1.6m/ €1.4m (est. £300-500k)

• Highlights from the collections of Castle Howard:
o A monumental 1st Century B.C quartz granite vase made for Emperor Nero’s Palace, sold for £1.09m / $1.7m / €1.5m (est. £400-600k)

o An extremely rare pair of 17th century Roman pietre dure cabinets, made £1.3m / $2m / €1.8m (est. £800k-1.2m)

• A pair of bespoke pistols made for Napoleon’s beloved son and heir, the three-year-old boy “King of Rome” sold for £965k / $1.5m / €1.3m (est. £800k-1.2m/ $1.2-1.8m/ €1.1-1.7m)

• Pre-sale estimate: £9.9-15.8m/ $15.9-25.4m/ €11.6-18.5m.

*Including totals for Sotheby’s sales of “Treasures”, Old Master & British Drawings, and Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale. *Sotheby’s London, Old Master & British Drawings, 8th July 2015 total: £4,653,000/ $7,180,044 / €6,486,741+