Sargent Record at Auction

A painting by John Singer Sargent sold for 12 million pounds setting a new auction record for the artist. Group with Parasols (A Siesta) was bought anonymously at Sotheby New York.
There was speculation that the buyer was Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of the Microsoft computer empire. Mr Gates has built up one of the most extensive private art collections over the past decade, with works by American painters forming the core.

Five bidders competed for the painting by Sargent, who was an American citizen but lived in London for much of his life and became a fashionable portraitist of high society. The anonymous buyer, who had left a commission bid with the auctioneer William Stahl in the New York saleroom, was prepared to double the previous record paid for a Sargent in 1996.