'The Klimt, caller, is yours...

A painting that saved its sitter's life – and may save the art market - hit a record price of $205m. But who bought it?

- Vanessa Thorpe Arts and Media Editor

The $205m price was set, not when Sotheby's principal auctioneer, Brit Oliver Barker, brought down his gavel after 19 minutes of frenzied bidding, but seconds earlier, when his colleague, David Galperin, set aside his mobile phone in defeat, ending a call with a mystery bidder.

"That's the sure sign," Barker said in response, and smiled over at Julian Dawes, the man still on the line with his bidder.

"The Klimt, Julian, is yours," Barker said. Dawes cupped his hand to whisper reassurance to his client and the record-breaking deal was done.

The historic moment inside New York's Breuer Building last week concluded a six-way bidding war for Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, a masterpiece painted in Vienna between 1914 and 1916, at the height of the city's "golden age". The painting is now the most expensive modern artwork to go under the hammer and the second most expensive from any era. The sale room price was the equivalent of £156m, but with buyer's premiums and fees, the final cost is £180m. The deal is being seen as the symbol of a rising tide of hope in the art market.