A portrait by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt has been sold for a world record price in New York, according to US media reports.

The 1907 masterpiece, which was once looted by the Nazis, was bought by cosmetics magnate Ronald S Lauder for $135m, The New York Times said.

Mr Lauder, who is the founder of New York museum Neue Galerie, described the painting as a "once in a lifetime acquisition".

He said Christie's had helped him negotiate the purchase.

The work - a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer - was sold by Bloch-Bauer's 90-year-old niece and heir, Maria Altmann.

Earlier this year, an arbitration court ordered the Austrian government to return five paintings, including the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, to Altmann.

The paintings had been the subject of a fierce legal battle between the Austrian government and Altmann since 1998.

Ms Bloch-Bauer, who died in died in 1925, was the wife of a Jewish sugar industrialist.

Picasso's Boy with a Pipe, which was sold for $104m in May 2004, holds the world record for a painting sold at auction.

Klimt was born in Baumgarten in 1862 and died in Vienna in 1918 at the age of 56.

He was an honorary member of the Universities of Munich and Vienna.

The article Klimt portrait sells for world record price originally appeared on 999 Today