Rare Botticelli portrait sold for the equivalent of 1.9 billion crowns

New York – A rare portrait by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli was sold today at auction at Sotheby’s in New York for $92.2 million (more than 1.9 billion CZK). This information was provided by the Reuters agency, which reported that this is the highest amount ever paid for a work by this artist at auction. Botticelli is one of the key figures of the Florentine Renaissance. The beauty, charm, and elegance of his paintings with a melancholic undertone have made him an icon of the golden age of the Medici family’s rule.

The portrait of a young man holding a medallion is among the roughly ten surviving works by Botticelli. The painting, which likely dates from the late 1470s or early 1480s, essentially contains two works. Botticelli painted the nobleman, but the medallion that the figure holds is a separate work by the 14th-century painter from the so-called Sienese school, Bartolommeo Bulgarini.

Art historians do not know who the young man in the painting is or why he holds the medallion. However, some believe he may be connected to the influential Medici family. For the last 50 years, the painting has spent much time loaned to the world's most prominent museums, such as the National Gallery in London and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Botticelli's most famous paintings, The Birth of Venus and Primavera (Spring), can be seen in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

According to Sotheby's, the artwork auctioned today ranks among the most valuable and significant portraits ever to appear at auction. Before the auction, the price of the 15th-century portrait was estimated at $80 million. Sotheby’s had anticipated it might sell for more than $100 million. The auction was conducted via telephone and online. The final price includes auction fees. The identity of the new owner of the portrait was not immediately clear.

The portrait of the young man with the medallion was purchased by its previous owner at an auction in Britain in 1982 for $1.3 million (27.9 million CZK). Even then, the identity of the buyer was unclear.