Christie's auction breaks record for Toulouse-Lautrec

A portrait by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec sold for £12.6m (€18.5m) today at a Christie’s sale of Impressionist and Modern paintings and sculptures, the highest auction price ever paid for a work by the artist.

The Laundress, which depicts a red-haired young woman staring out a window, was sold to an anonymous phone bidder. The work, dated 1886-87, had belonged to Chicago collectors Neison and Bette Harris.