Titian's Sacred Chat

Titian's A Sacra Conversazione (ca 1560) has fetched £10.7m ($16.9m) at Sotheby's New York sale, setting a new auction record for the artist. I'm sure he'll be pleased. According to Sotheby's, this oil painting on canvas has been sold only six times in its 450-year history. Prior to pre-sale exhibitions, it hadn't been seen in public for 30 years. Shame! Saint Catherine of Alexandria's supportive hand is particularly well done. Saint Luke seems to have brought a DIY manual as a gift for the infant carpenter. And yes, I have tweaked the gamma and contrast settings to brighten this graphic.