Girolamo Romanino, "Christ Carrying the Christ." (Courtesy Christie's)

A world auction record was set this week for Italian artist Girolamo Romanino at Christie's Old Masters sale. His Christ Carrying the Cross sold for $4.6 million and was the highlight of the sale. Nicholas Hall, co-chairman of Old Masters and 19th-century art at Christie's, told Reuters that the painting was the most important work by Romanino to hit an auction block in more than a decade.

More via Reuters:

In February, a U.S. District Court restituted Romanino's "Christ Carrying the Cross" to the heirs of Federico Gentili di Giuseppe, a Paris-based Jewish-Italian businessman and art collector who died in 1940.

It was returned to Gentili di Giuseppe's heirs only weeks ago, capping a more than decade-long process that began with a 1999 Parisian court ruling that nullified the 1941 sale of the his estate.

A record was also set for Philippe de Champaigne. His painting The Holy Family with a Sparrow sold for more than twice its $250,000 estimate.