It may not be Francis Bacon’s R1,4 billion best-seller, but you have to admit that half a billion rand is still a helluva lot, and it’s worth seeing what kind of art deserves that degree of monetary exchange.

Norman Rockwell’s painting ‘Saying Grace’ first appeared on a Thanksgiving issue of The Saturday Evening Post. On Wednesday, it was sold for $46 million at yet another high-flying Sotheby’s auction. Rockwell’s sale is a record for any single American painting.

“We are thrilled – it’s a really great moment for American art and for Rockwell,” Elizabeth Goldberg, head of the American Art Department at Sotheby’s, said.

‘Saying Grace’ features a boy praying with an old woman in a crowded restaurant. The painting was originally estimated to go for $20-odd million before the auction. But the selling price nearly tripled Rockwell’s previous auction record, ‘Breaking Home Ties’ which sold for R161 million in 2006.

It was a great day all-round for Rockwell and his art, having sold seven pieces that came to a total of around R600 million. The pieces all came from the private collection of Kenneth J. Stuart Sr. – a longtime friend of the artist, and art editor at The Saturday Evening Post.

[Source : CNN]