A 1976 triptych painting by Francis Bacon brought a whopping $86.28 million Wednesday night at Sotheby’s big spring contemporary art sale. It was a record for the artist at auction and, seemingly, a retort to doomsayers who had predicted that the art market would falter seriously this season because of broad economic anxieties.

Image This undated photo released by Sotheby's shows the three panels of Francis Bacon's "Triptych, 1976." Credit... Sotheby's/Associated Press

Everyone in Sotheby’s cavernous salesroom was on the edge of their seats when “Triptych, 1976,” a vast (each of the three panels measures about 6.5 by 5 feet) and densely painted allegorical subject, came up for sale. Echoing multiple themes in Greek mythology, it depicts a Promethean headless body being attacked by a bird of prey in the central panel; in the panel to either side, a blurred face looms, bearing witness to the violence.

It was being sold by the Moeuix family, producers of Château Petrus wines. Hailing the painting as “a landmark of the 20th-century canon,” Sotheby’s had estimated it would sell for $70 million; the hammer price was $77 million. (Final prices include the commission paid to Sotheby’s: 25 percent of the first $20,000, 20 percent of the next $20,000 to $500,000 and 12 percent of the rest. Estimates do not reflect commissions.)