The £70.3m deal for Spurs owner that has set a new record in the art world

An auction in New York has raised the benchmark for an art work by selling a piece owned by the Spurs owner

Joe Lewis, the billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur, has made history with the sale of a painting from his own private collection.

David Hockney's 1972 piece, 'Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Tool Figures)', had been in the currency trader's possession since 1995.

It was sold at Christie's New York last week for £70.3million, according to City AM , to set a new record for artwork by a living artist, previously held by a balloon-animal sculpture by Jeff Koons that had gone for in 2013.

Bidding started at £14million and quickly rose above the pre-sale estimate of around £62million.

Lewis also owns works by the celebrated artists Francis Bacon, Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, Lucian Freud and Pablo Picasso. In 2008 he spent £26.3million on 'Triptych 1974-1977' by Bacon, a record-setting sum at the time for a post-war piece bought in Europe.

The businessman and investor now lives New Providence in the Bahamas and was named the 388th richest person in the world by Forbes earlier this year. At the current exchange rate, they claim he is worth £3.89billion.

He also owns a 321-foot 'super yacht' called Aviva which serves as a mobile, floating base for the 81-year-old billionaire and houses his personal art collection and a personal office.

In 2001, Lewis purchased Alan Sugar's share holding in Spurs through his company, ENIC Sports PLC, to take control over the Premier League club. There is no suggestion that the sale of the Hockney painting would have any affect on the finances or transfer budget of Spurs.

The group has previously owned stakes in a number of European clubs including Rangers, Slavia Prague, AEK Athens, Vicenza Calcio and Basel and a number of business interests.