Image courtesy of Christies’s
RAPHAEL PORTRAIT SELLS FOR £18.5 ($37.3 MILLION/ €27.3 MILLION) AT CHRISTIE’S IN LONDON ]]>
July 6th 2007 – A masterpiece by Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael (1483-1520) sold at this evening’s auction of Important Old Master and British Pictures at Christie’s in London for £18,500,000 ($37,277,500 / €27,343,000), a world record price for the artist at auction and a world record price for an Italian Old Master Picture (by US$). One of only a handful of paintings by the artist to remain in private hands, the work portrays Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino and ruler of Florence from 1513 to 1519. The most important Renaissance portrait to be offered at auction for a generation, and the most important work by the artist to be offered at auction in recent decades, it was bought after a ten minute bidding battle by a private collector biding on the telephone.
The portrait shows a swagger Lorenzo de’ Medici standing proud and resplendent against a rich green background. In the Duke’s right hand he holds what is probably a portrait miniature showing his future wife, and his striking tunic and shawl of gold and red are of the most impressive order with the fur on the neck and lining of his cape painted in a delicate manner which highlights Raphael’s exceptional ability and technique. The vivacity and boldness of the colours, together with the handling of the abundance of fabrics worn by the Duke, are typical of the style of the Renaissance master and substantiate his being known as ‘the Prince of Painters’.
The portrait is recorded in the possession of Cosmo de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in an inventory of 1553. During the 1800s, it was in the possession of two of the most prominent collectors of the 19th century; Lord Northwick (1769-1859) whose collection was offered at auction in 1859, and then the merchant Hollingworth Magniac (1786-1867) whose collection was sold over an eleven day sale at Christie’s in 1892 where the present picture, lot 84, sold for 567 guineas. The painting was the subject of attributional debate with regards both the artist and the sitter from 1862, although Sir Charles Robinson (1824-1913), the esteemed scholar of Italian Renaissance art, supported the attribution as it is accepted today. It was sold again at Christie’s in November 1962 and in 1968 it was sold at an auction in New York to Ira Spanierman, who offered the portrait at this evening’s auction. In 1971, Professor Konrad Oberhuber conclusively reinstated the attribution of the painting in an article for The Burlington Magazine, a view now accepted by all major scholars of the artist.
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