10.3m for 'greatest painting to surface in 30 years'

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS'S celebrated portrait of Omai, the Tahitian who fascinated London after being brought here by Captain Cook in 1774, fetched a record 10,343,500 at Sotheby's today.

Unfortunately for Guy Morrison, the St James's art dealer who paid the record auction sum for a Reynolds, his client has baulked at the price - leaving Mr Morrison high and dry.

The buyer is rumoured to be Andrew Brownsword, who built his 180 million fortune from greetings cards before buying his local rugby club, Bath. Mr Morrison today refused to comment on the speculation.

However, the agent is confident a new buyer will swoop for what Sotheby's described as "the greatest British picture to come onto the market for over 30 years".

Mr Morrison said: "I did have a bidder but he backed out - however I am hopeful he will change his mind. It may seem a fantastic price to pay but, and I really mean it, in my 25 years in this business I have never seen an English painting of such quality come up at auction."

Whoever ends up with the painting, its sale at some 2million above the estimate was said by a spokesman to leave its former owner, Simon Howard, "absolutely delighted".

Mr Howard, who runs Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, can be understandably relieved: last year he divorced his former wife Annette, who was reported to be seeking an 8 million settlement.

Mr Howard, 45, is chairman of the company that owns and runs Castle Howard, which featured in the TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

It is understood that Mr Howard - who said the Reynolds sale was for "family reasons" - faces enormous bills thanks to a demand for capital gains and inheritance tax following the death of his father, Lord Howard of Henderskelfe.

During his three years in London, Omai met George III, who was so impressed with his "noble savage" bearing he gave the Tahitian a sword and ordered that he be paid an annual allowance.

Reynolds, the most important artist of his day and first President of the Royal Academy, evidently painted the portrait for himself, as no payment is recorded and it remained in his collection until his death in 1792.

The painting was later bought by Frederick, 5th Earl of Carlisle, and has remained in the collection at Castle Howard - until today.

* Barbara Cartland's Spitting Image puppet sold for 3,290 in an auction of characters from the television show today. The figure, in pink tulle and carrying a Pekinese, made three times its estimate at Sotheby's, Olympia.

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