Impressionist painter John Peter Russell (1859-1930) is the new high flyer in the Australian art world with an artist auction record of almost $4 million for his painting Souvenir de Belle-Ile, 1897 (Marianna Russell with Goats, Goulphar, Belle-Ile) (lot 23) at Deutscher and Hackett’s Melbourne auction on August 16.
The actual figure of $3,927,273 including buyer’s premium also eclipsed Australian auction records for an impressionist painting in a sale that...