Botticelli’s portrait is up for auction for over $ 92 million

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Written by Oscar Holland, CNN

Collaborators Jacqui PalumboLily Smith, CNN

One of the last private Sandro Botticelli portraits sold at auction for over $ 92 million (after taxes) at Sotheby’s New York on Thursday morning.

The 15th century painting “Young Man Holding a Roundel” became the most expensive work of the renaissance artist that has ever appeared at auction and the most valuable Old Masters work ever sold at a Sotheby’s, the auction house announced.

It is believed to have been produced in the late 1470s or early 1480s, the portrait was bought by its previous owner in 1982 for just £ 810,000 (just over $ 1 million in today’s money). It depicts an unidentified young man holding a small circular painting known as a roundel.

Roundel itself contains a miniature religious portrait of the 14th-century Sienese painter Bartolomeo Bulgarini, which Botticelli incorporated into the work.

Botticelli incorporated the work of a previous artist into the roundel held by his unidentified subject.

Botticelli incorporated the work of a previous artist into the roundel held by his unidentified subject. Credit: Sotheby’s

“This painting is not only the largest Botticelli in private hands, but must be considered among the best privately owned Renaissance paintings,” said Christopher Apostle, head of the painting department of the former master of Sotheby’s, in an e-mail before for sale.
After billing the work as “one of the most significant portraits of any period that ever appeared at auction,” Sotheby’s initially estimated bids in excess of $ 80 million. But the Apostle also predicted that it could be “very well the next painting that will exceed the threshold of 100 million dollars.” If it had done so, it would have become the first painting to get a nine-figure sum at auction at Claude Monet’s “Haystacks,” which raised more than $ 110 million in 2019.

Although not as well known as Botticelli’s masterpieces such as “The Birth of Venus” and “Spring,” the portrait sold on Thursday “depicts the quintessential Renaissance man,” the Apostle said. “It has a very modern feel, largely due to its amazing condition and setting,” he said.

How do art auctions really work?

Market rarity

Although celebrated during his lifetime, Botticelli’s legacy faded after his death in 1510. It was not until the end of the 19th century that he rekindled interest in his work.

Today, however, he is considered a key figure in the Western art tradition. A successful exhibition of about 40 works by the painter, to be opened in September at the Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris, is one of the most anticipated art exhibitions of 2021.

Botticelli rarely produced portraits, concentrating most of his career on religious scenes and paintings from classical mythology. Only a dozen or so are known to have survived, almost all of which are now found in museum collections.

Prior to Thursday’s sale, the auction record for one of his paintings was $ 10.4 million paid for “Madonna and Child with Young St. John the Baptist” – also known as “Madonna Rockefeller” – at Christie’s in New York in 2013.

“The Birth of Venus”, presented at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in 2016. Credit: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP / Getty Images

“Young Man Holding a Roundel” was the star of Sotheby’s “Master Paintings and Sculpture”, which brought together still life paintings and portraits of famous European artists. The other notable batch, a rare biblical scene by Rembrandt entitled “Abraham and the Angels,” which had not been auctioned since the 1840s, was one of four works withdrawn just before the sale began.

Other items still on sale as part of the auction house’s Masters Week series include a 17th-century sculpture by Pietro and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, estimated to sell for between $ 8 million and $ 12 million, and a triptych by Flemish painter Pieter. Coecke van Aelst, who is expected to earn up to $ 3.5 million.

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