Botticelli rare image sold for $ 92.2 million (Rs 6,722 million) at rop at Sotheby’s in New York on Thursday, a world record for any work by the Italian artist.
Renaissance artist “Young Man Holding a Roundel” is one of just about a dozen of his paintings known today. Sandro Botticelli’s large-scale paintings of “Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” are on display in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Sotheby’s said this is one of the most important and valuable images of any time to appear at an auction.
The $ 92.2 million price tag at the auction, led by bidders over the phone and online, included a prime buyer price. The identity of the buyer was not immediately known. A 15th-century work, also known as “Young Man Holding a Medallion,” had given a presale estimate of $ 80 million, and Sotheby’s estimated that it could fetch more than $ 100 million.
“There are a number of artists who are truly… Olympic in their genre. And Botticelli is one of those, ”said Christopher Apostle, Old Masters’ director of photography at the auction house, ahead of Thursday’s auction.
Sotheby’s said, “Young Man Holding a Roundel” was acquired for $ 1.3 million by its previously unknown owner at a 1982 UK auction.
It shows an unknown young man, possibly a member of the late 15th-century Florence elite, dressed in a simple suit with a blue sky behind him and holding a round, or medal.