 Liz by Andy Warhol was bought by diamond mogul Laurence Graff |
Andy Warhol's 1963 portrait of film icon Liz Taylor has been auctioned for more than $12.6m (�6.7m) in New York. The painting, which was made from a publicity photo in the year Taylor starred in the Cleopatra, just exceeded its pre-sale estimate of $9-12m.
The portrait had been owned by the same person since 1965 and was bought by English diamond mogul Laurence Graff.
It was the top lot in Sotheby's Tuesday sale in which 60 works of contemporary and post-war art sold for $68m (�36m).
Warhol's portrait, Liz, was "the outstanding example" from a series of 13 Taylor paintings he made on coloured backgrounds, Sotheby's said.
Records
With Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy, Taylor was one of Warhol's favourite subjects.
The artist's record is $17.3m for a painting of Monroe that was sold in 1998.
Other works sold on Tuesday included Roy Lichtenstein's Blue Nude, sold by the estate of late designer Gianni Versace for almost $5.3m (�2.8m).
Records were set for 10 artists including Chuck Close, whose large-scale portrait John fetched $4.8m (�2.55m).
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