Anker painting breaks record
A painting by Albert Anker (1831-1910) has sold for a record price at an auction of Swiss art in Zurich.
Die Kartenlegerin (The Fortune Teller) fetched SFr2,625,000 ($2,555,858) on Tuesday, the highest price ever paid for an Anker painting at auction. It was bought by an anonymous buyer.
The work, painted in 1880, shows an old woman spreading out cards on a table, watched by two young women.
The Sotheby's auction saw another artist, Robert Zünd (1827-1909), achieve a record price. His Haus zwischen Nussbäumen (House between Walnut Trees) was sold to an international collector for SFr649,000.
However, the picture which was expected to be the star of the sale, Ferdinand Hodler's Genfersee mit Jura (Lake Geneva with Jura), failed to make its reserve and was withdrawn.
Swiss artists are becoming increasingly popular among collectors. A painting and a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti both fetched record prices in New York earlier this month, and works by Félix Vallotton and Hodler have also sold for records recently.
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