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Christie's auction house employees hang a 'Portrait of Henrietta Moraes' by Francis Bacon
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News At One: Francis Bacon painting sells for over €25m: Journalist Eamonn Mallie & Roundwood House's Frank Kennan
A painting by Irish-born artist Francis Bacon has been sold at Christie's in London for £21.3m (€25.36m).
The Portrait of Henrietta Moraes had been in the hands of a private collector for 30 years and unseen in public for 15 years.
The price exceeded expectations, making the painting the second most valuable work of post-war contemporary art ever sold at the auction house, behind another Bacon work, Triptych, which sold in 2008 for just over £26.3m (€31.3m).
The 'Portrait of Henrietta Moraes' was painted in 1963 and was sold to an anonymous bidder at last night's sale.
The price was more than £1m higher than the top estimate.
