Agnolo Bronzino
Portrait of a Young Man with a Book
Estimate: $12,000,000-18,000,000
Sandro Botticelli
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist
Estimate: $5,000,000-7,000,000
Renaissance masterpieces at Christie’s On 30 January 2013, Christie’s New York will present Renaissance, a sale devoted to the artistic traditions that flourished in Europe from 1300 to 1600. Masterpieces by Sandro Botticelli, Fra Bartolommeo, Bronzino, and Lucas Cranach the Younger are among the highlights of the sale.]]>
December 21, 2012, source: Christie’s
Leading the sale is premier Florentine portraitist Agnolo Bronzino’s “Portrait of a Young Man with a Book”, one of the most important Renaissance portraits remaining in private hands (estimate: $12,000,000 – 18,000,000). Recently rediscovered, the Portrait of a Young Man with a Book is among Bronzino’s earliest known portraits, datable to the time he was most closely associated with his teacher, Jacopo Pontormo, whose stylistic influence is clearly visible here. While the sitter’s identity cannot be confirmed, his social status and profession are alluded to. Elegantly attired and shown writing in a manuscript with a quill pen, he is clearly a cultivated man of letters. The seeming spontaneity of the sitter’s pose and direct gaze toward the viewer suggest that he may have been a close friend of the artist.
Fra Bartolommeo’s beautifully preserved “The Madonna and Child”, still set in its original frame, is an important recent addition to the artist’s oeuvre (estimate: $10,000,000 – 15,000,000). Likely executed in the mid-1490s, early in Fra Bartolommeo’s career, this tondo-shaped panel depicts a tender moment as the Christ child eagerly grasps his mother’s veil, pulling himself up to receive a kiss.
Sandro Botticelli’s “Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist” is also among the highlights of the sale (estimate: $5,000,000 – 7,000,000). Intended for private devotional use, the work depicts a popular subject in Florence, as Saint John the Baptist was the patron saint of the city; his presence was likely intended to signal that the patron was a Florentine patriot. The tender sentiment between mother and child is here combined with an allusion to the Resurrection in the tomb-like structure carved with a classical relief just behind the figures. The diaphanous veil which falls over the Madonna’s head and shoulders signifies her purity, as this was the traditional head covering of unmarried Florentine women. The painting comes to market with a highly distinguished provenance, having been acquired in the early 1930’s from Lord Duveen by John D. Rockefeller. It remained in the Rockefeller family for some 50 years, and has more recently passed into a private New York collection, though it is still widely referred to as “the Rockefeller Madonna.”
Other highlights of the sale include Raphael’s remarkable drawing of “Saint Benedict receiving Maurus and Placidus” (estimate: $1,000,000 – 1,500,000); a “Portrait of Jacopo Boncompagni”, executed in 1574 by Scipione Pulzone, previously exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (estimate: $1,500,000-2,500,000); and “The Temptation of Saint Anthony” by a follower of Hieronymus Bosch (estimate: $400,000 – 600,000).
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