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A series of art auctions in London had more fizzle than sizzle after Christie’s failed to find a buyer for a Francis Bacon painting it expected to sell for around $80 million.

The portrait of the artist’s lover squaring off with a pope was supposed to cap a week of auctions at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips, but Bacon’s “Study of Red Pope 1962. 2nd Version 1971” garnered no bids, drawing gasps in Christie’s packed King Street sale room on Friday.