Rare Botticelli portrait sold for record $92 million
Sotheby s in New York auctioned off a 15th-century masterpiece, the Botticelli painting Young Man Holding a Roundel, smashing the record price for the artist.
The painting was the highlight of the annual Masters Week sales series in New York
The art world held its breath as Sandro Botticelli s
Young Man Holding a Roundel went on auction at Sotheby sin New York on January 28.
The painting that has been shown in leading museums worldwide over the past decades was valued at about €66 million ($80 million).
Sotheby s said the final price, including fees and commissions, was $92.2 million after it sold under the hammer for $80 million.
Botticelli painting sells for $92 million at auction in NYC
January 28, 2021 GMT
NEW YORK (AP) A small painting by Sandro Botticelli sold at Sotheby’s in New York on Thursday for $92.2 million, an auction record for the Renaissance master.
The work, “Young Man Holding a Roundel,” from about 1475, depicts a young nobleman holding a round painting of a saint. It is one of just three portraits in private hands by the artist best known for “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera.”
“This is not only an exceptional painting, it is also the epitome of beauty, and of a moment when so much of our Western civilization began,” said Christopher Apostle, head of Sotheby’s Old Masters Painting department in New York. “Today’s result is a fitting tribute, both to the painting itself and all that it represents.”
28 Jan 2021 - 19:34
A worker at Sotheby s auctions takes Sandro Botticelli s Young Man Holding a Roundel from the wall during a preview where it is expected to fetch in excess of $80 million USD in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 22, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Reuters
A rare Botticelli portrait sold for $92.2 million at auction at Sotheby s in New York on Thursday, a world record for any work by the Italian artist.
The Renaissance artist s Young Man Holding a Roundel is one of only around a dozen of his portraits known to survive today. Sandro Botticelli s large-scale Birth of Venus and Primavera paintings are displayed in Florence s Uffizi Gallery.
A Botticelli Portrait Sells for $92 Million at Sotheby’s Auction
“Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel” dates to around 1480, and its sale is the art market’s biggest test of the new year.
Botticelli’s “Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel” (circa 1480), is believed to show a Medici family member. It also has a small, gold-ground tondo inserted into the painting.Credit.Julian Cassady for Sotheby’s
By Katya Kazakina
Jan. 28, 2021
A small painting by Sandro Botticelli fetched $92.2 million at auction at Sotheby’s on Thursday, in the art market’s first big test of the new year.
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