Religious Rockwell Art Sells for Record $46M at NY Auction

ASSOCIATED PRESS 
By Ula Ilnytzky

"Saying Grace" (1951) by Norman Rockwell

NEW YORK---A Norman Rockwell painting titled "Saying Grace" sold at an auction on Wednesday for $46 million, a record for the Saturday Evening Post illustrator and for any work sold at an American art auction, Sotheby's said. Two people on the telephone bid against each other for nine minutes before the hammer came down, the auction house said. The buyer's identity wasn't disclosed. The painting had a pre-sale estimate of $15 million to $20 million. The idea for the illustration came from a reader who saw a Mennonite family praying in a restaurant. Rockwell's son Jarvis Rockwell was among the models he used for it. [link]