It is an early work, miraculously found, of the divine Michelangelo Buonarroti inspired by the
Baptism of the Neophytes
by Masaccio, one of the most important artists of the Quattrocento.
On May 18, Christie's Paris will put this unique drawing, representing a naked young man, up for auction during the Old Masters and 19th Century sale.
It will be offered at an estimate on request, of some 30 million euros.
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The work comes from a French private collection.
After being classified as a national treasure, it now has its export certificate outside France and can be offered without restriction to collectors all over the world.
Before it goes on sale in Paris, it is planned to be exhibited in Hong Kong and New York.
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The drawing was recognized in 2019 as being by Michelangelo by a former Christie's drawing specialist, Furio Rinaldi, an attribution later confirmed by Professor of Art History at the University of Cambridge, Paul Joannides, author of the Complete Catalog of Drawings by Michelangelo and his School of the Louvre Museum and that of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Sold in 1907 to the Hotel Drouot as a work of the school of Michelangelo, the sheet escaped the attention of all specialists until its recent rediscovery.
First nude study
The young Michelangelo (1475-1564) made the drawing, which is probably his first known nude study, in Florence at the end of the 15th century.
The central figure takes up one of the characters from the
Baptism of the Neophytes
, one of the famous frescoes painted by one of the founding painters of the Italian Renaissance, Masaccio (1401-1428), on the walls of the Brancacci chapel of the Florentine church Santa Maria del Carmine.
Several other studies by the artist after Masaccio are known, notably in the print room in Munich and in the Albertina in Vienna, while a copy after a fresco by the painter Giotto is kept in the Museum of Louvre.
Using two brown inks with different tones, Michelangelo appropriated the figure of Masaccio by making it more muscular, robust, monumental, like his future representations of the human body, such as his
David
in marble at the Galleria dell Accademia in Florence and its two
Slaves
in the Louvre.
In the drawing, Michelangelo associates, on either side, two figures, unrelated to Masaccio's fresco, executed using a more free and vigorous pen stroke.
Stijn Alsteens, the international director of the department of old drawings knows how much the sale of a drawing by the sculptor of David is in itself an event for the art market: “
Since the discovery in 2001 of a drawing by Michelangelo at Castle Howard, now housed in the J. Paul Getty Museum, a drawing of such beauty and importance, by one of the major figures in the history of art had not reappeared.
This drawing is one of the most remarkable among less than ten sheets by Michelangelo still in private hands, and will become an essential work for any study of the beginnings of his career.
I would like to express my thanks to Furio Rinaldi, a former specialist in Old Master drawings at Christie's in New York, who was the first to suggest this attribution, which was unanimously accepted.
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The sale of this large sheet, in good condition, and of great strength, is part of the line of major drawings offered at auction at Christie's, such as the
Head of a muse
by Raphaël, sold on December 8, 2009 in London for more than 29 million pounds, a
study of
Head of a Bear
by Leonardo da Vinci which realized last July nearly 9 million pounds or even a
Study of a Naked Man
by Michelangelo, whose price obtained in London on July 4, 2000 (more than 8 million pounds) remains for the moment the world record for a work by the artist.
Before this auction, which promises to be historic, Cécile Verdier, president of Christie's France, has decided to present the drawing of the young Michelangelo to the public on April 7 and 8 at the Christie's gallery at 9 avenue Matignon.
She proudly confessed that the May 18 event will undoubtedly be memorable: "
All the Christie's teams involved in the sale of this drawing are extremely honored to be able to present a work of this importance, a major rediscovery for the 'the history of art.
The sale of this drawing is a major event for the art market.
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