A drawing by Leonardo da Vinci of a bear's head could fetch more than $ 16 million when it goes up for auction in July, Christie's auction house announced on Saturday.
It would then be a new record for a drawing by the great Italian master.
Measuring 7 cm wide, The
Bear Head
is a sketch made with a silver point on pink-beige paper.
The auction house specifies that it is "
one of eight drawings by Leonardo da Vinci still in private hands, outside the British Royal Collection and the Devonshire collections at Chatsworth
".
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It will be at the top of Christie's “exceptional sale”, which will take place on July 8 in London. The drawing is estimated between 11 and 16 million dollars (that is to say between 9 and 13 million euros).
The Bear's Head
could thus overtake
The Horse and Rider
, another drawing by Leonardo da Vinci sold for more than 9 million euros in 2001, which holds the record for a drawing by the Florentine genius, according to Christie's. "
I have every reason to believe that we will reach a new record in July for the"
Bear's Head
", one of Leonardo's last drawings that we can expect to see on the market.
", Said in a statement Stijn Alsteens, head of the international department of the works of old masters at the Paris agency of Christie's.
The drawing belonged to the British painter Thomas Lawrence, who, when he died in 1830, had passed it on to his art dealer Samuel Woodburn.
The latter then sold it to Christie's in 1860 for $ 3.5 million, the auction house said.
The current owner has had the design in his possession since 2008. The bear head will be on display at Christie's in New York on Saturday, then in Hong Kong later this month before being on display in London in June.