They expect more than US $ 40 million for the work of Botticelli 0:56
Editor's Note:
This article was originally published on The Art Newspaper, an editorial partner of CNN Style.
Sandro Botticelli's rediscovered and impressive "Man of Sorrows", which will be auctioned at Sotheby's on January 27 –– with a guarantee of $ 40 million–– still needs to be studied in depth, as it has been in private hands since the century. XIX.
But the technical analysis carried out by the auction house in preparation for the sale already revealed an unexpected discovery: the intriguing image of a Virgin and Child, covered under layers of paint.
OPINION |
The young man from Botticelli who captures the gaze
Chris Apostle, Vice President and Director of Old Master Paintings at Sotheby's in New York, has had the opportunity to think about the painting in depth.
And he believes that it is an unfinished composition of a "Virgin of tenderness" –– a type derived from Greek icons––, in which the Virgin intimately cradles the head of the Child Jesus against hers, cheek to cheek.
The facial features, especially the nose, eyes, and laughing mouth, which he identifies as belonging to the Child Jesus, are highly visible in the infrared image, if turned upside down.
An infrared image of the "Man of Sorrows" reveals the faint outline of a Virgin and Child below.
(Credit: courtesy of Sotheby's)
This head occupies a space under the chest of the "Man of Sorrows", while what appears to be an eye and an eyebrow, belonging to a woman's head, appear from the area near the right hand of Christ, according to Sotheby's .
There is also evidence of some white background, possibly cadmium, at the bottom of the figure.
Other visible parts of the abandoned composition include what appears to be the folds of a cloak, with decorative bands around the shoulder and part of a sleeve, and the plump arm of the Child can also be distinguished.
advertising
Some lines in this bottom drawing are thicker than others.
Which suggests that they may have been drawn from a standard sketch and then coated with a liquid pigment.
But the head of the Infant Jesus, Apostle suggested, is "unique."
There is no replica in any autographed Botticelli or study work of what we see here.
The red outline in an inverted image of the painting shows the Virgin and Child below.
(Credit: courtesy of Sotheby's)
So is it unusual to find such a drawing under a painting?
Apostle says he's encountered this kind of thing before.
"The panel was a valuable product in the Renaissance," he explained.
So in the case of an interrupted work of art, like this one of a Madonna and Child, a motif that Botticelli and his busy studio produced regularly, "you wouldn't want to throw it away."
And so, apparently, Botticelli took the panel, turned it over to the other side, and decided to use it for an extraordinary composition, reflecting the semi-millennial religious anguish of Italy at this time.
The new work is tentatively dated to around 1500, when predictions of the apocalypse and hopes for personal salvation reached a special level of intensity.
The 10 most famous paintings in the world
The poplar panel that Botticelli used was the standard painting support in Renaissance Florence.
Sotheby's technical analysis reveals a crack in the middle and an old knot in the wood and shows that the panel was "reconfigured sometime in the 20th century," according to Apostle.
It is sandwiched on a modern board, with the original back and front on each side ("a kind of marouflage," explained the specialist).
Layers of paint are in "pretty good condition," he continued, albeit a bit battered around the edges, and there are additions at the top and bottom of the image.
The face of the Child Jesus (turned upwards for clarity) is visible in the infrared image.
(Credit: courtesy of Sotheby's)
The infrared images also show that Botticelli made certain adjustments to the composition, according to the Sotheby's analysis.
For example, the tip of a finger that feels the open wound in Christ's side is now covered by his robe.
There is also a change in the position of the wound and the profile of the thumb, with the resulting effect that the wound is "minimized" somewhat, as the Apostle put it.
There is also evidence that Botticelli altered the length of Christ's hair, his chin, and the location of some of the thorns on the crown, as well as his eyebrows.
Botticelli portrait auctioned for more than US $ 92 million 0:31
In terms of Botticelli's typical painting technique, Apostle said he has "changed it" here, mixing tempera and oil.
"It is very difficult to say what the means of attachment is without testing," he said.
"But the technique seems pretty consistent with what you would expect to see. We have XRF technology so that we can see, for example, the element cadmium, and we have a map of lead, which shows where the fillers and leaks are. Pigments include chromium, titanium, etc., all the pigments one would expect to see, "he explained.
As in Botticelli's "Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Medallion", which Sotheby's sold in New York for $ 92 million, abundant white lead paint is used throughout the composition, with some plaster mixing in the base preparation. .
.
The "Man of Sorrows" will be auctioned on January 27 at Sotheby's New York.
(Credit: courtesy of Sotheby's)
The tiny cross at the top of the composition was made by marking lines on the surface of the painting and then shifted (these incisions are also visible in "Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Medallion").
"It would have been too far to the right," Apostle said, although the cross and Christ were positioned asymmetrically.
This asymmetry is in contrast to a comparative contemporary image, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" (another anomalous image. Which sold for $ 450 million at Christie's in New York in 2017), where Christ is presented rigidly head-on, as in the famous "Veil of Veronica", relic of Christ.
"For me, what I find touching is that Christ is a little off-center," Apostle said.
"Botticelli cocked his head a little, which is more human."
At age 55 or older, at the time of painting the work, Botticelli would have been in the last decade of his life, Apostle noted.
"I feel like there is something in this image that Botticelli is projecting, an understanding that we are all going to die, it has a deep emotional charge," he said.
"If I had represented Christ fully and rigid, this would be more like an icon, a little more impenetrable."
Read more stories from
The Art Newspaper
here.