The UK’s First Post tries to draw some conclusions from yesterday’s record-setting sale of Old Master art:

Only two years ago, at a time when Andy Warhol’s Lemon Marilyn was able to fetch $28 million in New York, a Raphael portrait of the great Renaissance art patron and Florentine art ruler Lorenzo de’ Medici went for a modest £18 million. (It had last been sold at Christie’s in 1892 as part of lot of 84 works which went for 567 guineas).

Prices for Old Master drawings seem likely to surge now, as gold reserves dwindle, bricks and mortar crumble, Dubai shivers like a mirage in the desert and contemporary art, from video to graffiti, becomes increasingly difficult to get your hands on, let alone purchase.

Safety in Old Master; Raphael Fetches £29m (First Post)