New York's Metropolitan Museum and oil scion Gordon Getty were among the sellers of old-master artworks today at Sotheby's, which topped its estimates on some of the most expensive works after days of volatility in the stock markets. The session at Sotheby's was part of a series of sales featuring works by Donatello, Titian and other pre-19th-century artists. It was expected to total as much as $100 million before fees, or about the same as last year's estimate for the January sales. Getty's Bernardo Bellotto, an 18th-century oil vista of Venice's Grand Canal, had a high estimate of $1.2 million; it fetched $1.9 million before the commission. Still, at least four works priced at $1 million or more failed to sell today. "Considering the turmoil in the financial markets, the results were extraordinary," said dealer Anthony Crichton- Stuart, who was bidding from the back of the room. "If the stock markets continue to decline, the old-master paintings market may contract, and people will become more selective," he said. The price of old-master paintings jumped 40 percent in the 12 months through November, according to an Art Market Research index, while the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 3.5 percent last year. U.S. stocks gained for a second day after Xerox Corp. and other companies posted earnings that topped analysts' estimates. Unsold Lots Among the unsold lots: a still life by Jan Brueghel the Elder and an allegorical painting by Jacopo Tintoretto, both with $3 million top estimates; a Claude Lorrain landscape valued at as much as $2 million, and a Jacob Jordaens painting of peasants with a $1.5 million high value. A 1505 German gothic sculpture of St. Catherine, on loan to the Met until July, fetched $5.6 million before fees from a telephone buyer. It carried a top estimate of $6 million. The wood carving by Tilman Riemenschneider was sold by the Scherman Foundation. Los Angeles collector Suzanne Booth, who dropped out of the bidding, said she had a "sort of" ceiling. Titian's "Penitent Magdalene," an oil painting of the biblical former prostitute, was valued at up to $6 million and sold to a phone buyer for $4 million, the low estimate. Once part of Tokyo's Ishizuka collection, it was last auctioned at Sotheby's in June 1989, according to the catalog. "A lot of the works aren't that fresh," New York dealer Richard Feigen said. "They've been on the market before." Donatello's 1450-60 "San Felice Madonna" a terra-cotta sculpture named for the Florentine church where it was once installed, had a high valuation of $4 million. Only the second Donatello to come to auction, according to Sotheby's, it sold for $5 million before fees to a phone bidder. Feigen bid as high as $3.4 million on behalf of a client, he said. View of Thames A second picture offered by Getty, a Canaletto view of London's Thames, doubled its top estimate as a phone bidder wrested it from dealer Edmondo di Robilant, taking $1.8 million. "It wasn't in good condition," di Robilant said. "I went higher than I wanted to." A work by Lucas Cranach the Elder, showing a woman with a feathered hat and a bunch of grapes, had a high valuation of $2 million and took $4.5 million from a buyer on the phone. Konrad Bernheimer, one of the bidders, bought a different Cranach offered later for $3.6 million, just above the top estimate. "Everything's tied to stocks in way," said dealer Jack Kilgore. "When people are in a good mood, they buy." In the afternoon session today, the Metropolitan Museum offered enameled works and objects from a Benedictine abbey. Christie's holds its New York old-master sales in April.