A long-lost painting by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, The Massacre of the Innocents, set a world record as the most expensive painting ever sold at auction in pounds sterling. It went for £49.5 Million.
In 2001, the painting was seen by George Gordon, an expert in Flemish and Dutch paintings at Sotheby’s in London. He was persuaded that it was indeed a Rubens by its similar characteristics and style to the Samson and Delilah painted around the same time. The work was sold at auction at Sotheby’s, London on July 10, 2002, for £49.5 million to Canadian businessman and art collector Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet.
