A fan paid the equivalent of around £95,000 for the 56 prints of the ‘The Last Sitting’ at the WestLicht Photographica Auction in Vienna.
![009_Bert SternThe Last Sitting _1.web](/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/009_Bert-SternThe-Last-Sitting-_1.web_.jpg)
Commenting on the portraits, captured in Los Angeles, USA, the auction house said: ‘Shortly before her death in 1962, Bert Stern was able to capture the Hollywood diva directly, in close proximity and unselfconsciously.’
The lot consisted of 28 silver-gelatin prints and 28 chromogenic prints, most signed and/or stamped.
![009_Bert Stern_2.web](/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/009_Bert-Stern_2.web_.jpg)
At the same auction, one of the earliest Leica M3 cameras, dating from 1954 (pictured below), bowed out for ten times its starting price when it sold for €312,000.
![002_Leica M3 no.700004.web](/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/002_Leica-M3-no.700004.web_.jpg)
[All photos, courtesy WestLicht Photographica Auction]