Chirstie's To Auction Rahpael Drawing and Possibly Set a Price Record

Bloomberg's Scott Reyburn is reporting that Chrisite's will sell a Raphael drawing during the December 8th Old Master sale in London.  The drawing is expect to sell for $19.7 million. The previous high for an Old Master drawing was in 2001 for 8.1 pounds (I bleive the exchange rate was around 1.5, or just over $12 million). The article notes that Raphael is one of the three most important artist of the Renaissance, and perhaps the rarest.

Reyburn reports

Stephen Ongpin, a London-based dealer in Old-Master drawings, said in an interview. “He has been at the top of the tree for 500 years. This is a truly significant work. A Raphael drawing of this quality hasn’t emerged since the 1980s.”

The subject of Apollo and the muses was one of four frescos by Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael, commissioned by Pope Julius II and executed between 1508 and 1511. The cycle of wall paintings is regarded by art historians as the summit of the painter’s career. Raphael died in 1520, aged 37.

Raphael’s Mind

“This truly exceptional drawing offers us a glimpse into the working mind of a genius,” Benjamin Peronnet, Christie’s international head of Old Master and 19th-century drawings, said. “It presents us with the immediacy of his thoughts and ideas, capturing the precise moment at which the artist’s hand and mind were applied to paper.”

The drawing has been entered by an anonymous private collector, Christie’s said. It was formerly owned by the painter Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) and by King William II of Holland (1792-1849). This is the first time it has appeared at auction for more than 150 years, said the auction house.

To read the full Bloomberg article, click HERE.