Christie’s sale of Old Master paintings in New York this week was extremely polarised. While the firm trumpeted five new auction records – for Gainsborough (£2.9m), Van Haarlem (£4m), David (£3.6m), Van der Velde (£1.5m) and Tournier (£206,000) – it also failed to find buyers for 95 paintings, over 40 per cent of the sale. This is the “masterpiece” effect – everyone wants the top works and names but there is little take-up in the middle range.

European collectors were active at the sale, no doubt enjoying the strong Euro-dollar exchange rate. And new collectors were also active; an increasing number are comparing Old Master prices favourably with the current values of contemporary art.