A painting presented to a London art college in lieu of rent by Irish-born artist Francis Bacon has been sold for about £8.1 million (€11.6 million) at Christie's auctioneers in London.
Study from the Human Body, Man Turning on the Lightwas sold by the Royal College of Art yesterday, with the blessing of the artist who died in 1992, to raise funds to build a new campus in southwest London.
"We are delighted with the sale. I hate to use the phrase 'bringing home the bacon', but since the major phase of our new development will be supported by this, I've a feeling that's just what we're doing here," said Sir Christopher Frayling of the Royal College of Art after the sale.
The nude painting was valued by Christie's at as much as £9 million, making it the top-priced lot in a five-day marathon of London auctions, but it failed to make its high estimate.
It is thought that the turbulent financial markets were causing some art collectors to baulk at paying out for big name works. Earlier in the day, a statue by English artist Damien Hirst failed to reach its low estimate.
Following a fire at his London studio in 1969, Francis Bacon took up a short tenancy at the Royal College of Art while it was being rebuilt, and in return for the studio space Bacon donated Study for Bullfight No.1as payment.
However, in 1975 the artist requested the picture for the Francis Bacon retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the college was given Study from the Human Body as a replacement.
The substitute painting was so popular that the college asked that they be allowed to keep it.
Bacon was delighted to agree to this, and he pointed out in a letter to the college that he preferred it to The Bullfight.The buyer was given copies of this and other letters to the Royal College of Art, which document the painting's provenance.
"It is a fitting tribute to Francis Bacon that the rent from his short tenancy at the college will now be used to help countless future generations of students," said Sir Terence Conran, provost of the Royal College of Art.
Bacon is currently the auction world's third most expensive postwar artist, behind Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol. This was the fourth highest price yet achieved by a Bacon painting at auction.
The record for one of his works was set in May of this year, when Sotheby's in New York sold Study for Innocent Xfor $52.7 million (€37.2 million).
