A late 15th-century Netherlandish triptych, *The Five Miracles of Christ*, sold for £5.7 million at Sotheby’s London Old Master auction. The work, kept for centuries at St. John’s Almshouse in Sherborne, Dorset, had never before appeared on the market. The charity sold it to fund affordable housing, and the buyer—an unnamed Christian charitable foundation—plans to keep the painting publicly viewable in the town. Other highlights included a Rembrandt reattribution, *Saint John on Patmos*, which sold for £6.8 million, and a record £3.2 million for a Hans Eworth portrait of the 4th Duke of Norfolk.
The sale underscores a growing interest in Old Masters among collectors disillusioned with contemporary art losses, though the market remains niche and supply-constrained. The triptych’s emergence from a historic, non-commercial setting and its purchase by a foundation with local ties highlight how institutional and charitable motivations can intersect with high-end auction dynamics. The underbidder, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art Ottilie Windsor, signals that even contemporary specialists are eyeing medieval and early modern works.