A painting by Italian painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) has fetched around $45 million at an auction in New York. The auction house Sotheby’s announced on Thursday that three bidders had competed for the work for around seven minutes.
It was not initially disclosed who ultimately acquired the Renaissance painting. Dated in the late 15th or early 16th century, The Man of Sorrows is a portrait of Jesus Christ and was previously in a private collection.
Record amount a year ago
About a year ago, Sotheby’s in New York had already auctioned the Botticelli painting “Young Man Holding a Roundel” (in German about: young man holding a round badge) for 92.2 million dollars. Never before had so much been paid for a work by the Italian painter at auction.
According to the auction house, there are only around a dozen known Botticelli portraits worldwide, only a few of which are privately owned. (SDA)