Warhol portrait of Liz Taylor fetches €9.8m

Andy Warhol’s portrait of actress Elizabeth Taylor, Liz, has been snapped up at a New York auction for $12.6m (€9.8m).

British diamond collector and jeweller Laurence Graff outbid five other contenders for the classic image, one of 13 made from a publicity shot taken in 1963.

The silkscreen picture depicts Taylor on a vibrant red background and had been owned by the same Los Angeles art dealer since 1965.

Auctioneers, Sotheby’s, had estimated that it would sell for between $9m -$12m (€7m-€9.3m).

Taylor, along with Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy, was one of Warhol’s favourite muses and the Coloured Liz series has come to epitomise Pop Art culture.

The canvas portrait was the top lot at the contemporary art sale which featured 73 works, 60 which sold, netting a total $68m (€53m).

Five Roy Lichtenstein paintings were sold by the estate of late designer Gianni Versace, led by Blue Nude which took $5.2m (€4m) - twice the pre-sale estimate.

Several records were set, including one for artist Chuck Close. His large-scale portrait, John, was sold to a Los Angeles art foundation for $4.8m (€3.7m).

Eric, a 1990 Close portrait was sold to a Manhattan dealer for $3m (€2.3m).

London dealer, Anthony d’Offay, sold Jeff Koons’ Cake, a painting of a giant slice of iced cake – part of his Celebration series, for a record $3m (€2.3m).