The work is now the second most expensive piece by the Italian painter ever to be sold.
The price for the painting outpaced the Renaissance artist’s previous second highest auction, set for The house’s sale of another Botticelli portrait for $92 million is credited with providing a boost to the market for Old Master paintings. Sotheby’s sale of similarly looked to jolt the slumping category, marking a shift among auction houses, which are now placing focus on blue-chip sales of old-world trophies.
Works by Botticelli only rarely come to market, and only a handful still remain in private hands. Sold from an American collection, the work had not changed hands since it last appeared at auction in 1963, when it sold for £10,000. According to Sotheby’s, art historian Federico Zeri identified the painting as an authentic work by Botticelli when it was sold nearly half a century ago.
In a statement after the work’s sale, Christopher Apostle, the head of Sotheby’s Old Masters painting department, said: “Botticelli’s is one of the most potent, humbling works I have ever encountered. Though seemingly religious, it’s a painting of enormous humanity—a portrait of human suffering and spirituality that speaks a universal language. Today’s result is not only testament to its power and importance, but also to the timelessness of works painted some 500 years ago.
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