Tiny Michelangelo Foot Sketch Smashes Records, Selling for $27.2 Million USD

Summary

• A previously unknown Michelangelo sketch has sold for $27.2 million USD at Christie’s New York, setting a new auction record for the artist
• The drawing, a study of a foot for the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, was estimated to sell for just $1.5–$2 million
• The work was discovered after the owner submitted a photo to Christie’s online valuation portal, unaware of its true origin, becoming the only known study for the Sistine Chapel to remain in private hands

In a stunning upset for the art world, a palm-sized sketch of a foot by Renaissance master Michelangelo has obliterated auction expectations. The drawing, titled Study of a right foot, sold for a staggering $27.2 million USD at Christie’s New York earlier this month on February 5. Originally estimated to fetch between $1.5 million USD and $2 million USD, the piece sparked a fierce 45-minute bidding war, eventually selling for nearly 20 times its low estimate and setting a new world record for a Michelangelo drawing at auction.

The story of the sketch is as remarkable as the price. The work surfaced only recently when an unsuspecting owner from the U.S. West Coast uploaded a photo of the drawing to Christie’s online valuation portal. The piece had been in his family for centuries, inherited from a grandmother who owned it as a “curiosity.” Research by Christie’s specialists revealed the drawing’s provenance could be traced back to the late 1700s, where it was part of the collection of Swiss diplomat Armand Louis de Mestral de Saint-Saphorin.

The work itself is a rare red chalk study for the Libyan Sibyl, one of the monumental figures adorning the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican. Experts identified the sketch as a preparatory drawing created around 1511–1512. It depicts the figure’s right foot with the heel raised and toes pressed down—a specific anatomical detail necessary for the Sibyl’s twisting, weight-bearing pose.

The $27.2 million USD sale price surpasses the previous auction record for a Michelangelo work—a nude study sold in Paris in 2022 for $24.3 million. “In the 23-plus years I have been in the industry, I have been privileged to see many wonderful Old Masters moments, but today topped them all,” said Andrew Fletcher, Christie’s Global Head of Old Masters. With most of Michelangelo’s 600 surviving sketches held in museums, this sale represented perhaps the last opportunity for a private collector to own a direct link to the Sistine Chapel.

The buyer remains anonymous, but the sale underscores the market’s insatiable appetite for museum-quality masterpieces. The sketch, once a forgotten family heirloom, now stands as one of the most valuable works on paper in history.