Article: Francis Bacon `rent' Painting Sold

LONDON - A Francis Bacon painting that the artist donated to an art college in lieu of rent decades ago has sold for $16.4 million at an auction where solid but unspectacular results suggest global financial turmoil may be unsettling the art market.

"Study from the Human Body, Man Turning on the Light" was bought late Sunday by an anonymous bidder at Christie's auction house. The painting was given by Bacon to the Royal College of Art in 1969 as payment for renting a studio, and the college sold it Sunday to fund a new campus in south London.

This month's London auctions are being closely watched for signs that after several years of rising prices, the red-hot art market may be cooling.

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