An 1830s Tasmanian landscape by a colonial artist John Glover has sold for a world-record price at auction in London but many other Australian masterpieces failed to sell at Christie's.
A London-based philanthropist paid STG1.74 million ($A3.01 million) for Glover's Ben Lomond from Mr Talbot's Property - Four Men Catching Opposums, which was on the market for the first time since its inclusion in the artist's 1835 selling exhibition.
The price set a new world record for a work by Glover at auction, shattering the previous mark set in 2001 by more than STG600,000.
Previously on long-term loan to the National Gallery of Scotland, Ben Lomond went under the hammer at Christie's on Thursday along with 74 other works in the auction house's annual Australian art sale.
Art director Nick Lambourn said although he was disappointed many works didn't sell it was still the best result for the auctioneers at an Australian sale.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Some STG3.87 million was paid for the 44 lots that did sell, beating Christie's previous 2007 record. But the auction house was initially expecting to realise STG6 million from Thursday's sale.
The works were sourced exclusively from United Kingdom, European and American collections.
Some of the pictures hadn't been seen for generations.
An Australian buyer purchased Fred Williams' 1968 Lysterfield landscape for STG829,875.
It went well and truly over the estimate of around STG500,000 following a bidding war with another potential buyer.
Lambourn was surprised Russell Drysdale's great portrait of Old Larsen didn't sell along with Fred McCubbin's Bush Idyll and quite a few Charles Blackman pieces.
Arthur Boyd was also a little flat.
"Shifting tastes perhaps explains some of the failures, we're not sure," the director of Australian art told AAP.
"A mixed bag but overall it was a little bit disappointing."
Christie's is also running an online only sale of Australian art works on paper until early October.
At the same time the Royal Academy has its huge Australia exhibition running in London.
Lambourn said that meant viewer numbers were up at Christie's this week.
"Our sale looked fantastic on the walls and the Royal Academy show delivered a really good crowd, it helped bring over a lot of Australians," he said.
"But I don't think it had any effect on our prices - the market is the market."
