Rowdies fetch $7.15 million

A riotously profane picture of inebriated villagers by Pieter Brueghel the Younger that has not been seen in public for 70 years sold for $7.15 million in London on Wednesday.

“The Kermesse of St. George,” described by Sotheby’s as the finest work by the 17th century Flemish artist still in private hands, was sold to an anonymous bidder. It had been in the hands of a Belgian family since 1930.

Meanwhile, a previously unknown painting by El Greco, found by chance in an envelope in an apartment in Spain, is finally returning home. The oil-on-wood portable altarpiece “The Baptism of Christ” was sold at auction for $1.5 million to the Municipality of Crete. El Greco was born on the Greek island in 1541.