Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483 – 1520)
Head of a Young Apostle (c. 1519-20)
Sold for £29.7 million / $47.8 million / €36.6 million
Raphael drawing breaks records at Sotheby’s Coming from the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth, Raphael’s ‘Head of a Young Apostle’ (c. 1519-20) set a new record at auction for the artist, when it achieved £29.7 million / $47.8 million / €36.6 million.]]>
December 6th, 2012, source: Sotheby’s
Executed in black chalk, the highly important drawing from the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth depicts one of the key figures in Raphael’s “Transfiguration” – one of the greatest of all Renaissance paintings, which now hangs in the Vatican Museum, Rome. When Raphael died, his body was laid out in state in his studio with the “Transfiguration” hanging at his head. Head of a Young Apostle, is one of only three Raphael drawings of this calibre have appeared at auction in the last 50 years – each of which set an all-time record for an Old Master Drawing when they were sold.
“Head of a Young Apostle” was the headline work at tonight’s Evening Sale of Old Master & British Paintings Including Three Renaissance Masterworks from Chatsworth, which achieved £58,061,500 / $93,513,852 / €71,514,547 (est. £35.6-52.9 million). Also from The Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth, a flawlessly preserved 15th-century illuminated manuscript, “The Deeds of Sir Gillion de Trazegnies in the Middle East”, was bought by the J. Paul Getty Museum for £3,849,250 (est. £3-5 million).
Other notable works at the auction include Jan Havicksz. Steen’s “The Prayer Before the Meal”, from the collection at Sudeley Castle (est. £5-7 million), which sold for £5,641,250 ($9,085,797 / €6,948,347), a record for the artist; and Bernardo Bellotto‘s “Venice, the Grand Canal: looking south-west, from the Rialto Bridge to the Palazzo Foscari”, sold for £3,289,250 ($5,297,666 / €4,051,380).
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Masterwork by Raphael sold at Christie’s London (news, 2007)
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