A preparatory sketch by Renaissance master Michelangelo sold for $27.2 million (approximately 39.9 billion won) at Christie's New York, setting a new auction record for the artist's works.
According to CNN and other media outlets, the drawing fetched roughly 20 times its low estimate after fierce bidding at the Christie's auction held in New York on January 5.
The previous record for a Michelangelo work was a nude sketch that sold for $24.3 million (approximately 35.6 billion won) at Christie's Paris in 2022. The red chalk foot drawing has now surpassed that mark after approximately four years.
The sketch is believed to be one of around 50 preparatory studies for the Sistine Chapel ceiling, one of Michelangelo's greatest masterpieces. The work, slightly larger than a palm, depicts a foot with its heel slightly lifted from the ground. The identical foot position appears in the Sistine ceiling's depiction of the Libyan Sibyl, shown twisting her body to place a book behind her. According to the BBC, the sketch had never been publicly displayed before. Christie's confirmed the work's authenticity at the owner's request.
Most of Michelangelo's sketches are known to have been lost over time. Some were burned by Michelangelo himself, while works held by early collectors were largely destroyed or damaged. Only two other sketches related to the Libyan Sibyl are known to exist—one at the Ashmolean Museum in Britain and another at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York—making this piece particularly valuable to collectors.
According to the BBC, the consignor said the drawing had been in the family since the late 1700s and was inherited from a grandmother. Andrew Fletcher, Christie's global head of Old Master pictures, said in a statement that "the opportunity to own a study for what is considered the greatest work of art in human history sparked intense bidding competition."