Picasso portrait of mistress sold for £28m at Sotheby's

One of Picasso's portraits of his mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, has been sold for £28.6m at Sotheby's.

The 1932 piece, entitled Femme Assise Pres d'une Fenetre (Woman Sitting Near a Window), was the centrepiece of Tuesday night's auction.

Helena Newman from Sotheby's said: "This portrait is a striking and notably modern-looking work from one of the artist's most celebrated periods."

In total, the impressionist and modern art sale raised £121m.

It was the second-highest haul for a Sotheby's evening sale in that category in London, with 18 lots selling for more than £1m.

Another highlight saw three pieces by Austrian artist Egon Schiele Liebespaar fetch a combined total of £14m.

His 1914 Selbstdarstellung mit Wally (Lovers - Self Portrait with Wally) was sold for £7.9m, a record price for a work on paper, while Self Portrait in Green Shirt with Eyes Closed went for £5.1m.

Marie-Therese, who Picasso called his "golden muse", was the artist's mistress from 1927 to 1935. Their relationship began when he was 45 and she was just 17.

The pair, who had a daughter, Maya Widmaier-Picasso, split when Picasso found a new mistress, Dora Maar.

Marie-Therese was the focus of several portraits by the impressionist, including the 1932 work La Reve (The Dream).