Botticelli painting ‘Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel’ sells for staggering $92M
This Old Master piece carried a nouveau riche price tag.
“Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel,” created by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli in the late 15th century, sold for a staggering $92.2 million on Thursday, reported CNN Style.
The artwork — one of Botticelli’s few works in private ownership — was the priciest piece by the artist ever sold at Sotheby’s, according to the auction house.
Likely painted in the late 1470s or early 1480s, the portrait shows an unidentified male subject holding a small, circular painting known as a roundel. It was purchased by its previous owner in 1982 for just over $1 million, noted CNN.
“This painting is not just the greatest Botticelli in private hands but is to be considered amongst the finest Renaissance paintings in private ownership,” explained Christopher Apostle, the head of Sotheby’s Old Master painting department.
It is the second artwork to sell for more than $80 million since Sotheby’s began livestreaming auctions due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Francis Bacon’s triptych “Oresteia of Aeschylus” sold for $84.5 million in June 2020.
Though lesser known than Botticelli’s signature works “The Birth of Venus” or “Primavera,” “Young Man Holding a Roundel” “depicts the quintessential Renaissance man,” said Apostle. “It has a very modern feel, largely thanks to its astonishing condition and setting.”
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Referring to the painting as “one of the most significant portraits of any period ever to appear at auction,” Sotheby’s estimated bids would surpass $80 million.
And Apostle predicted that the piece could “very well be the next painting to surpass the rarified $100 million threshold.”
“Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel” would have become the first painting to sell for nine figures at auction since 2019 when Claude Monet’s Impressionistic work “Haystacks” sold for $110 million, CNN reported.
