RAPHAEL PORTRAIT SELLS FOR £18.5 ($37.3 MILLION/ €27.3 MILLION) AT CHRISTIE’S IN LONDON This evening’s auction of Important Old Master and British Pictures realises £41,540,000 / $83,703,100 / €61,396,120
News-Antique.com - Jul 05,2007 - RAPHAEL PORTRAIT SELLS FOR £18.5 ($37.3 MILLION/ €27.3 MILLION) AT CHRISTIE’S IN LONDON
· This evening’s auction of Important Old Master and British Pictures realises £41,540,000 / $83,703,100 / €61,396,120
· New world auction record prices established for Raphael, Domenichino, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Ferdinand Bol
King Street – 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 bidding on the telephone.
This evening’s auction of Important Old Master and British Pictures at Christie’s London realised a total of £41,540,000 ($83,703,100 / €61,396,120). Auction records were broken for a number of artists including Raphael, Domenichino, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Ferdinand Bol.
Richard Knight, International Director of Christie’s Old Master Department and Paul Raison, Director and Head of Old Master Pictures at Christie's, London said: “The results achieved at this evening's sale build on Christie’s leadership of the market for Old Master and British Pictures. The highlight of the auction was Raphael's Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici, one of the most significant Old Masters to have been sold at auction in recent decades. This outstanding work by one of the most renowned and accomplished of European artists sold for £18.5million, a record price for the artist at auction. This evening’s sale attracted clients from around the world, including a significant number who were new to the category, and particularly competitive bidding was seen for the best works on offer. We are pleased with the results realised for Part Two of the Goudstikker Collection which realised a total of £3.12 million, and for the price achieved by Domenichino’s Pietà which sold for £3.04 million, a record price for the artist at auction. We are also pleased that Venus and Cupid by Sir Peter Lely sold immediately after the sale to a private collector within the estimate of £1,500,000-2,000,000.”
Other highlights of the sale included:
- A masterpiece by the Baroque master Domenico Zampieri, Il Domenichino (1581-1641). The Pietà, which was exhibited at the recent exhibition Domenichino 1581-1641 at the Palazzo Venezia, Rome from October 1996 to January 1997, sold for £3,044,000 ($6,133,660 / €4,499,032) setting a new world record price for the artist at auction.
- Portrait of a Lady by Lucas Cranach II (1515-1586), a striking portrait which far exceeded its pre-sale estimate of £500,000-700,000, eventually selling to an anonymous bidder in the
