A small drawing of a bear's head by Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci fetched 7.5 million pounds, or 8.7 million euros, at auction at Christie's in London Thursday - the second highest price for a drawing by the Italian artist.
Entitled 'Head of a Bear', the tiny work, measuring just seven by seven centimetres, had been expected to beat the record for a da Vinci drawing set in 2001, 8.1 million pounds for 'Horse and Rider'.
The drawing on offer online Thursday once belonged to the painter and collector Sir Thomas Lawrence, who sold it via Christie's in 1860 for two and a half pounds.
In 2017 Leonardo's attributed 'Salvator Mundi' painting sold in New York for a record $450 million, or around 381 million euros, the highest price ever paid at auction for a work of art.
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