Sotheby's sold a Turner masterpiece for $45.1 million on Wednesday, a record for the artist at auction and eclipsing pre-sale expectations of $18.2 million to $27.3 million.
The painting "Modern Rome — Campo Vaccino" was the top-selling work at the auctioneer's evening summer sale of Old Master and British paintings in London that produced nine artist records.
It took just five minutes for the British master's final painting of Rome to achieve the record, according to Sotheby's, with six bidders battling it out for a rare work that had come up for sale only once before in its 171-year history.
The previous record was $31.1 million for Turner's view of Venice entitled "Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio" in April 2006.
Overall the auction fetched $81.2 million, above expectations of $51.3 million to $75.2 million, with 43.6 percent of lots securing prices above their high estimates.
Three works by members of the Brueghel dynasty sold for seven figures, while Bernard van Orley's panel depicting the Virgin and Child fetched almost $1.5 million, setting an auction record.