A Rare Drawing by Michelangelo Is Expected to Fetch Around $33 Million USD

A previously unrecognized drawing by Michelangelo is expected to fetch around $33m USD when it hits Christie’s auction next month.

Primarily remembered as an artist and painter, the rare drawing has been in private hands since it was first sold in 1907, initially believed to have been a product of the school of Michelangelo, rather than a mark of his own. Back in 2019, Christie’s former specialist in Old Master Drawings, Furio Rinaldi, confirmed it to be a drawing by the Italian Renaissance master — sparking widespread interest.

“The drawing is one of the best of fewer than ten works on paper by Michelangelo still in private hands, and will become a touchstone for every discussion of the early part of the artist’s long career,” said Stijn Alsteens, Christie’s international head of the department of Old Master drawings in a statement.

Made in his formative years, the drawing is loosely based on a fresco in the Brancacci chapel in Florence by Masaccio, one of the foremost figures of Early Renaissance painting. The single-lot sale will take place on May 18 in Paris at 8am ET.

In other art news, LACMA presents “City of Cinema: Paris 1850–1907.”