1.
GV INT Christie's auction room.
0.10

2.
CU Lot No. 27 and pull back.
0.23

3.
SV Auctioneer taking bidding from 300,000 to 600,000 guineas.
0.38

4.
GV Bidders.
0.42

5.
SV Auctioneer 700,000 to 1,300,000.
1.03

6.
SV Man bidding who buys it.
1.04

7.
CU Auctioneer from 1,400,000 to 1,600,000
1.11

8.
GV Audience
1.12

9.
CU Auctioneer knocks it down at 1,600,000.
1.39

10.
SV ZOOM IN on Buyer
1.44

11.
GV Showroom and ZOOM IN on painting.
1.52

12.
CU Buyer amongst crowd.
1.55



Initials VS/21.09 VS/21.24



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Inflation in the art world continued in London today (Friday). In a mere two minutes of bidding, a masterpiece by the Italian Renaissance painter Titian was sold for a cool GBP1,680,000 sterling -- the second highest price ever paid for a work of art.

Even so, the bidding disappointed some experts, who had forecast the Titian would fetch a price rivalling the record GBP2.3 million paid for a Rembrandt last November. Titian's painting, "The Death of Actaeon", had been put up for sale by the owners, the trustees for the Queen's cousin, Lord Harewood. It last changed hands in the 1920's for a mere GBP100,000.

Today's purchaser was American-born art dealer Julius Weitzner. He is now based in London and he at first told newsmen that he had bought the painting for his daughter -- though it was later suggested that this was a joke. Meanwhile, controversy rages over whether the painting should be allowed to leave Britain.