£68m painting? I’ve hit jack Bott!
ONE of the last Sandro Botticelli portraits in private hands sold for a record £68million at Sotheby’s in New York yesterday.
The painting Young Man Holding a Roundel became the most expensive by the Renaissance artist at nine times the previous record.
The anonymous seller bought the portrait in 1982 for just £810,000.
The auction house said it was the most valuable Old Master they had sold. Believed to have been produced in the late 1470s or early 1480s, it depicts an unidentified young man holding a small circular painting – known as a roundel.
It contains a miniature religious portrait by 14th-century Sienese painter, Bartolomeo Bulgarini.
Christopher Apostle, of Sotheby’s, said: “This is not only an exceptional painting, it is also the epitome of beauty. Today’s result is a fitting tribute, both to the painting itself and all that it represents.”
Though not as well-known as Botticelli masterpieces such as The Birth of Venus and Primavera, the portrait “depicts the quintessential Renaissance man”.
Celebrated during his lifetime, the artist’s legacy faded after his death in 1510. It was only in the late 19th century that interest in his work was reignited.
He rarely produced portraits, focusing on religious scenes and paintings of classical mythology.
The previous auction record for one of Botticelli’s paintings was £7.5million paid for Madonna and Child with Young Saint John the Baptist – also known as the Rockefeller Madonna – at Christie’s in New York in 2013.