Rubens’ ‘Portrait of a Lady’ sells for $3.4 million

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Peter Paul Rubens’ 17th century masterpiece “Portrait of a Lady” has sold for the equivalent of $3.4 million  at a Warsaw auction, becoming the most expensive artwork ever bought on the Polish art market, the auction house said. The painting sold for 14.4 million zlotys, auction fee included, at an Old Masters auction Thursday night at the Desa Unicum.  Prior to the auction, the value of the Flemish master’s oil-on-canvas portrait of a dark-haired woman in a rich black velvet dress had been estimated at between 18 million and 24 million zlotys ($4.5 million- $6 million). In the past the painting has belonged, among others, to 17th-century British painter Sir Peter Lely. It was last shown in public in 1965.