A Francis Bacon painting is set for a record-breaking US$70 million when it goes under the hammer at an auction in Sotheby’s, in New York in May.

Bacon’s painting, a triptych showing a man under attack by vultures, was painted in 1976, when the artist was living in Paris.

Sotheby’s says the inspiration behind the triptych is believed to be the story of Orestes being plagued by the Furies.

Bacon’s triptych would smash the current record for a work by Bacon, which Sotheby’s holds, when “Study from Innocent X, 1962” sold in New York for US$52.7 million in May 2007.

In a statement to the press, Sotheby's head of contemporary art, Tobias Meyer, hails the painting as “the most important Bacon in private hands”.

The owner of the painting, a European collector who has kept it for 30 years, had bought the work from Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris. However, Sotheby's has not promised the collector a guaranteed minimum price for putting it up for sale.

via www.bloomberg.com