An unknown Rubens painting smashed the record for the most expensive painting ever bought, or sold, in sterling at an auction.
The Massacre of the Innocents, painted between 1609 and 1611, was sold for stg£49,506,650 including premium.
It was expected to reach between stg£4- to stg£6 million but was bought for the record-breaking price by a private collector in the auction room.
The painting depicts the moment when King Herod ordered the slaughter of all newborn boys to get rid of the Messiah.
The painting and its 17th century Antwerp surrounding wooden panel are still in near perfect condition.
The purchase beats the sale of Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Doctor Gachet which went under the hammer at Christie's in New York for stg£49,005,059 million including premium.
The Massacre of the Innocents was only properly identified a few weeks ago by Sotheby's Senior Old Masters Painting Specialist George Gordon.
Until then, Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) work had been incorrectly attributed to the more minor artist Jan van den Hoecke.
It was sold exactly 22 years after a similarly important piece Samson and Delilah reached stg£2.53 million at the National Gallery in London in 1980.
The painting passed to various collectors but in an anonymous inventory in 1780, it was attributed to van den Hoecke, who worked in Vienna, painting in the style of Rubens and Van Dyck.
PA