They analyze a statuette with a footprint that would be Michelangelo's 0:47
(CNN) --
A drawing by Michelangelo, discovered in 2019, will be put up for sale next month by Christie's and could fetch 30 million euros ($33 million), the British auction house said Tuesday.
The drawing, one of the few works by the Italian Renaissance artist in private hands, was sold in 1907 in Paris and listed as a work of the Michelangelo school.
It was long forgotten until 2019, when a Christie's specialist recognized it as "a Michelangelo".
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The drawing is believed to be one of the artist's earliest works, from the late 15th century.
Reproduces a shivering man depicted in a fresco, "Baptism of the Neophytes", by Masaccio.
Two other people are standing next to him in the drawing.
A Christie's employee installs Michelangelo's drawing "A Naked Youth (after Masaccio) Surrounded by Two Figures".
"I think this drawing is one of the most exciting discoveries made in the field of Old Master drawings in a long time," said Stijn Alsteens, international director of Christie's Old Master Drawings department.
"It shows Michelangelo doing two things at the same time, looking at the artists who came before him, in this particular case Masaccio, as well as at his own work and its revolutionary character, in particular the representation of the human body that becomes a such an important aspect both in the sculptures, I think of David in Florence, or the many, many figures he painted in the Sistine Chapel," Alsteens added.
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The work had been declared a French national treasure, barring its export, but the French government recently lifted the designation, allowing the drawing to be offered to collectors anywhere in the world, Christie's said.
The drawing is scheduled to be exhibited in Hong Kong and New York before being auctioned in Paris on May 18.
