Alain Delon was the proud owner of this fine neo-impressionist canvas from 1892. But this did not persuade buyers to pay the $5 to $7 million expected by Christie’s at its New York sales. This is a new technique used by auction houses to avoid unsold works and bad statistics. Works with little chance of being sold are withdrawn outright before the sale. Technically, therefore, they are not unsold and avoid being published on auction results websites such as Artprice and Artnet. But we’ll keep an eye out…