Botticelli 'Young Man' painting sells for $92 million
28 January 2021, 18:47
A portrait by Italian renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli has sold for $92 million at an online auction, smashing the record price for one of the artist's works.
Young Man Holding a Roundel, which dates back to the 5th Century, sold as part of Sotheby's Masters Week sale in New York on Thursday.
The work sold for $80 million, but the final price, including fees and commissions, was $92.2 million (£67.1 million).
George Wachter, co-chairman of old master paintings at Sotheby's, said: "This is a work that transcends time and categories. Now we really do know the price of beauty."
"We haven't seen anything like it in my lifetime," he added, labelling the work "a masterpiece."
The 23-by-15.5-inch work is considered one of Botticelli's finest portraits.
It has previously been exhibited at the National Gallery in London, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and Frankfurt's Städel Museum.
"This image symbolises and exemplifies the Renaissance in Florence," Christopher Apostle, Sotheby's senior vice president, told AFP ahead of the auction.
"We haven't seen anything like it in my lifetime," he added, describing it as "a masterpiece."
