A drawing by Peter Paul Rubens has sold for $1.5m at Christie’s.

That’s more than double its $700,000 estimate.

Rubens' work is in increasingly high demand 

The circa 1620 work is titled “Scipio Africanus welcomed outside the gates of Rome (after Giulio Romano)” and is based on a tapestry by Italian painter Giulio Romano (1499-1546).

Rubens is among the most sought after old masters today.

His canvas The Master of the Innocents achieved an artist record £49.5m ($76.5m) in 2002. This has sparked greater demand for his lesser works, as we saw with the sale of an ink drawing of Samson and Delilah for $3.2m in 2014.

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