Michelangelo Fetches Record $12 Million

L O N D O N, July 4 -- A Michelangelo drawing that inspired his statue ofthe risen Christ was sold to a German art dealer today for arecord price of more than $12 million.

Katrin Bellinger, a dealer based in Munich, made the winning bidof $12,378,500, Christie’s auctioneers said.

That was more than double the pre-sale estimate, and easilyexceeded the previous record of $8,767,818 for Raphael’s The Headand Hand of an Apostle, sold in London in 1996.

The previous record price for a Michelangelo work was $7.48million for Christ and the Woman of Samaria, which sold in NewYork in 1998.

Expresses Technical Brilliance

The drawing was sold by the estate of Sir Brinsley Ford, whobought it in 1936.

“It is one of the most beautiful and famous drawings to appearat auction since the Second World War and expresses the technicalbrilliance and power of this master of the Renaissance,” said NoelAnnesley, deputy chairman of Christie’s.

“There is only a handful of drawings by Michelangelo left inprivate hands and this is a superb example.”

The principal drawing is a three-quarter-length nude figure.There are also studies of the legs and of the larger figure.

The drawing was the inspiration for the marble statue of therisen Christ, commissioned in 1514 for the Church of Santa Mariasopra Minerva in Rome. It was the only statue Michelangelocompleted in the three decades after he painted the Sistine Chapel,Christie’s said.