The owners of Tottenham Hotspur have raised some huge funds of their own at a time when they are set to inject more capital into the club
Tottenham Hotspur's owners, The Lewis Family, have made almost £300million from the first part of an art sale at Sotheby's at a time when the club is looking to invest heavily in the transfer market.
It has been a busy summer so far for Spurs in the transfer market with the £52million arrival of Jan Paul van Hecke and free transfers for Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka. The north London club have also held talks with Newcastle over £100million-rated midfielder Sandro Tonali and want to bring in West Ham star Mateus Fernandes, who has a £85million price tag.
The Lewis family made it clear in their post-season letter to the fans that they would be investing in the club to ensure Spurs do not repeat the mess of recent Premier League campaigns and that appears to be reflected in the club's transfer ambitions this summer with the fees and wages on offer. football.london have previously reported that the owners are set to inject capital into the club in the weeks ahead.
However, the family have also been boosting their own funds through a huge art sale of works assembled over decades by former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne, who has now become an active part of the family backing Spurs.
The world-renowned auctioneers Sotheby's held a 'Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection' exhibition from June 10–23 before an auction on Wednesday and Thursday evenings this week, with work from Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Amedeo Modigliani to Gustave Caillebotte, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
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While the collection of art was estimated to be worth £200million, the first part of the sale on Wednesday alone raked in almost £298million. That was boosted by the highest price achieved for a work by an artist sold at auction in Europe, according to Sotheby's, with a Modigliani nude portrait "Nu assis au collier" collecting £48.4million.
Gustav Klimt's work "Bildnis Gertrud Loew" achieved the second highest price. With seven bidders battling for it, the portrait sold to a private collector from Asia for £36.3million, while Lucian Freud's "Sleeping by the Lion Carpet" went for £29.4million.
With part two of the auction set to come on Thursday, the Lewis lot of work could beat the record sale for a European private collection of £333million in 2009.