Years 1500-1519

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LEONARDO

1
1500 Salvator Mundi
2017 SOLD for $ 450M by Christie's

The Salvator Mundi painted by Leonardo was known in workshop's copies but the original was considered lost. The meticulous inspection made by the experts with modern techniques has just brought one of these paintings to the rank of original with undeniable arguments.

The picture shows Christ holding the orb of the world in his left hand and blessing with the raised fingers of his right hand. The mystical message without the divine attribute of the halo competes with the holy shrouds recognized as authentic at his time while adding attitude and gesture. The orb that prophesies the rescue of the world is a reflective crystal ball through which the viewer perceives the palm of the hand.

This painting had belonged to King Charles I of England. It was probably hanging in the private apartments of Queen Henriette who was born in the French royal family. Its previous whereabouts are unknown. A possible hypothesis is a French royal order during the Italian wars. King Louis XII was so impressed by the Last Supper that he wanted to take the wall to France.

The analyzes provided a lot of information on the realization and history of this painting. The perfection of the expression is concentrated in the lips and the gaze, anticipating the Mona Lisa. The mouth was drawn by the technique of pierced drawing used by other great masters of that time including Raphael and Andrea del Sarto. One of the eyes was softened by a spread of color pushed by the wrist of the artist.

Leonardo cared little for the supporting materials. The conservation woes of the Last Supper are famous. The original panel of Salvator Mundi was early split because of a knot in the wood. The accident caused awkward repainting on the face. Anonymous owners then extended these repaints to the point that only peripheral regions including the hands were still visible in their original quality.

All of that has been conscientiously repaired. Fortunately the sfumato remained in very good condition under the disagreeable layers that were removed. This signature Leonardo technique makes it possible to compare the Salvator Mundi with the Mona Lisa which is the culmination of his art. The perfectionist preparation of his paintings could last several years. A date around 1500 is plausible for the Salvator Mundi.

Christ the savior of the world by Leonardo, oil on panel 66 x 46 cm, was sold for $ 450M by Christie's on November 15, 2017, lot 9 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.​

​Responses by Grok :

  • The $450M sale of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi in 2017 at Christie's set a record as the most expensive artwork ever auctioned, though some art historians, like Frank Zöllner, question its attribution due to extensive restoration obscuring its original quality.
  • Rediscovered in 2005 and authenticated in 2011, the painting's journey from a $45 misattribution in 1958 to a Leonardo masterpiece highlights the evolving expertise of art scholars, supported by evidence like preparatory drawings at Windsor Castle.
  • The debate over its authenticity challenges the art market's reliance on high-profile sales, with studies suggesting over 20 copies exist, raising questions about the uniqueness and value of the restored version.

Quote
​Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 16, 2017
Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece Salvator Mundi achieves $450,312,500, a #worldauctionrecord for any work of art sold at auction.
​
  • The X post by Christie's highlights the record-breaking $450.3 million sale of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi in 2017, a painting once sold for just $45 in 1958, revealing a dramatic shift in its perceived value driven by evolving art authentication debates.
  • Recent studies, including analysis by the Prado Museum's Ana Gonzalez Mozo in 2021, suggest Leonardo may not have painted Salvator Mundi himself, challenging its attribution and sparking controversy over whether it’s an original or a workshop copy, supported by historical inventories linking it to his pupil Salaì.
  • The sale’s buyer, Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud, was later linked to a complex art market scandal involving Yves Bouvier, with lawsuits alleging a $380 million markup, as reported in 2018, raising questions about transparency in high-stakes auctions.
Asking Grok to compare with Mona Lisa :

Comparison: Salvator Mundi (Leonardo da Vinci, sold Christie’s 2017) vs. Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci)
Salvator Mundi (c. 1499–1510)
Mona Lisa (c. 1503–1519)
Subject
Salvator Mundi : Christ as Savior of the World (Salvator Mundi), blessing with right hand, holding crystal orb
Mona Lisa : Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo
Iconography
Salvator Mundi : Religious (Christ Pantocrator type), highly symbolic (orb = universe/crystal purity)
Mona Lisa : Secular portrait, though with enigmatic psychological depth
Auction / Ownership
Salvator Mundi : Sold at Christie’s New York, 15 Nov 2017, lot 9B for $450.3 million (highest price ever for any work of art at auction). Bought by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (effectively for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, on loan since 2018)
Mona Lisa : In the Louvre since 1797 (French state property). Priceless, effectively unsellable
Condition & Authenticity
Salvator Mundi : Heavily damaged and restored multiple times (overpainted, thinned panel, extensive repainting especially in face and hair). Authenticity accepted by most (but not all) scholars after 2005–2011 restoration. Some prominent experts (e.g. Carmen Bambach, Michael Daley) still doubt full Leonardo authorship or consider it a workshop piece heavily retouched by him.
Mona Lisa : Exceptionally well-preserved for a 500-year-old poplar panel. Universally accepted as entirely by Leonardo’s hand
Size
Salvator Mundi : 65.7 × 45.7 cm (25⅞ × 18 in)
Mona Lisa : 77 × 53 cm (30 × 21 in)
Support
Salvator Mundi : Walnut panel
Mona Lisa : Poplar panel
Technique
Salvator Mundi : Oil (with some tempera?), heavy use of sfumato, very fine brushwork in final layers
Mona Lisa : Oil, extreme sfumato, almost invisible brushstrokes, pentimenti visible in infrared
Provenance
Salvator Mundi : English royal collection (Charles I), later lost, rediscovered 1900 in very poor state, sold 1958 for £45 as “follower of Leonardo”, restored 2005–2011, re-attributed
Mona Lisa : Continuously documented since François I bought it from Leonardo c. 1518
Current location
Salvator Mundi : Officially owned by Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia; stored in Geneva or Saudi Arabia (not publicly exhibited since September 2018 cancelled Louvre Abu Dhabi show)
Mona Lisa : Louvre, Paris (permanent display in Salle des États)
Cultural status
Salvatot Mundi : Most expensive painting ever sold; controversial because of condition, restoration, and price
Mona Lisa : The single most famous painting in the world; ultimate icon of Renaissance art
Artistic innovations visible
Salvator Mundi : Transparent crystal orb with attempted (but optically imperfect) refraction; extremely delicate sfumato in the face; soft curling hair
Mona Lisa : Revolutionary atmospheric perspective, psychological ambiguity, “smile”, subtle modeling of flesh with no hard lines
Restoration controversies
Salvator Mundi : 2005–2011 restoration by Dianne Dwyer Modestini removed heavy overpaint but added significant retouching (especially blessing hand and hair). Critics say the face is now largely 21st-century paint
Mona Lisa : 19th and early 20th-century varnishes removed; very conservative modern treatments
Scholarly consensus
Salvator Mundi : Accepted as autograph Leonardo by the majority since the 2011 National Gallery exhibition, but a vocal minority still considers it workshop with Leonardo interventions
​Mona Lisa : 100 % consensus as fully autograph
Key Similarities
  • Both are undisputed (or almost undisputed) works by Leonardo da Vinci from roughly the same late period (c. 1500–1515).
  • Both use extreme sfumato and soft modeling with almost invisible transitions.
  • Both were painted in oil (unusual in Italy at the time).
  • Both have enigmatic, slightly melancholic expressions.
  • Both have suffered damage and restoration, though to vastly different degrees.
Key Differences in a Nutshell
  • Purpose: religious icon vs. private secular portrait
  • Condition: one is among the best-preserved Renaissance paintings, the other among the most damaged and heavily restored
  • Market value: one is literally priceless and belongs to France; the other is the only Old Master ever to cross $400 million
  • Public visibility: Mona Lisa is seen by 30,000 people a day behind bulletproof glass; Salvator Mundi has essentially disappeared from public view since 2018
  • Consensus: Mona Lisa is the gold standard of Leonardo’s genius; Salvator Mundi remains the most debated and polarizing Leonardo in existence.
In short: the Mona Lisa is the universally acknowledged masterpiece; the Salvator Mundi is the miraculous (and controversial) survivor that became the most expensive painting in history.

2
masterpiece
> 1503 La Gioconda
Louvre

The image is shared by Wikimedia.

Explore Mona Lisa history
The Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda or La Joconde), painted by Leonardo da Vinci, is one of the most iconic artworks in history. Its history spans over 500 years, blending artistic innovation, royal ownership, a sensational theft, and modern protection. Here's a detailed exploration of its fascinating journey.
Creation and Early Years (1503–1519)
Leonardo da Vinci began the portrait around 1503 in Florence, Italy, and likely continued refining it intermittently until as late as 1517 or even his death in 1519. Most scholars agree it depicts Lisa Gherardini (born 1479), the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo — hence the Italian nickname La Gioconda ("the joyful one," a play on her married name). Giorgio Vasari's 1550 biography of Leonardo describes it as a commission for her husband, noting Leonardo's painstaking sfumato technique (soft, gradual blending of colors and tones) and the enigmatic smile.
Leonardo never delivered the painting to the Giocondo family. He kept it with him, working on it as a personal experimental piece showcasing his mastery of anatomy, perspective, lighting, and emotional depth.
French Royal Ownership (1519–1797)
In 1516–1517, Leonardo moved to France at the invitation of King Francis I, bringing several works including the Mona Lisa. After Leonardo's death in 1519 at Château du Clos Lucé, Francis I acquired it (likely from Leonardo's estate). It hung in French royal residences, including Fontainebleau and Versailles. For centuries, it was prized by connoisseurs but seen by very few outside court circles.
During the French Revolution (post-1789), royal collections were nationalized. The painting entered the Louvre (then newly established as a public museum) around 1797–1798, though it briefly hung in Napoleon Bonaparte's bedroom before returning to the museum.
The 1911 Theft — The Event That Made It World-Famous (1911–1914)
Before 1911, the Mona Lisa was highly respected in art circles but not yet a global household name. That changed dramatically on August 21, 1911, when Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia (a former Louvre employee who had helped install its protective glass) stole it. He hid in a closet overnight, removed the small poplar panel from the wall during museum hours when attendance was low, hid it under his coat, and walked out unnoticed. The Louvre didn't realize it was missing for over 24 hours — staff initially assumed it was being photographed.
Peruggia, motivated by misguided Italian patriotism (he wrongly believed Napoleon had stolen it from Italy), kept it hidden in his Paris apartment for two years. In December 1913, he tried to sell it to an art dealer in Florence, claiming to "return" it to Italy. The dealer alerted authorities; Peruggia was arrested, tried in Italy (where he received a light sentence and some public sympathy), and served about a year in prison.
The painting was displayed briefly at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence before its triumphant return to the Louvre on January 4, 1914. The worldwide media frenzy — headlines, crowds, and speculation — catapulted the Mona Lisa to unprecedented fame. It transformed from an admired masterpiece into the world's most recognizable painting.
20th–21st Century: Protection, Vandalism, and Icon Status
The theft's publicity ensured massive crowds at the Louvre. The painting has faced several attacks:
  • 1956: Acid and stone damage (restored).
  • 1974: Red paint spray during a Tokyo loan (cleaned).
  • 2009: Teacup thrown by a frustrated visitor (no major damage thanks to glass).
Since 2005, it resides in its own climate-controlled, bulletproof enclosure in the Louvre's Salle des États, protected from environmental damage (the poplar panel has warped slightly over time) and theft. It rarely travels — a notable 1962–1963 U.S. tour (Washington, D.C., and New York) drew millions, secured with extreme measures.
Today, the Mona Lisa attracts over 10 million visitors annually to the Louvre, symbolizing artistic genius, mystery, and cultural heritage. Its history underscores how a single dramatic event (the 1911 theft) can elevate a work from art-world treasure to global phenomenon.

Theories about Mona Lisa's smile

The Mona Lisa's smile is perhaps the most debated feature in art history—subtle, ambiguous, and endlessly intriguing. Leonardo da Vinci's masterful use of sfumato (soft blending of tones) creates an expression that seems to shift depending on how (or where) you look at it: happy one moment, melancholic or enigmatic the next. This "uncatchable" quality has spawned countless theories, from artistic techniques to psychological interpretations, scientific studies, and even psychoanalytic speculation.Here are the major theories and explanations that have emerged over centuries, including recent scientific insights.
Artistic and Perceptual Theories
​Leonardo deliberately crafted the ambiguity using optical and perceptual tricks:
  • Peripheral vs. direct vision — Harvard neuroscientist Margaret Livingstone (2003) showed that the smile "disappears" when viewed directly (foveal vision focuses on fine details and misses the subtle shadows around the mouth), but appears more pronounced in peripheral vision. The low spatial frequencies (blurry overall view) enhance the upturned corners, while sharp focus on the mouth flattens it.
  • Dynamic facial muscles and unconscious extension — Dina Goldin (Brown University) argues the muscles are positioned ambiguously, so the viewer's brain "fills in" and extends the smile unconsciously, creating emotional dynamism.
  • Perceptual organization and ambiguity-nuance — A 2024 study in Scientific Reports by Alessandro Soranzo explains the oscillation between contentment and melancholy through perceptual principles: the smile becomes more evident when facial details are unclear (e.g., from afar or blurred), but fades with sharp focus. Manipulating reproductions showed how shifts in "Ambiguity-Nuance" (perceptual relationships between features) alter perceived emotion.
  • Blur and distance effects — Comparisons with Leonardo's La Bella Principessa confirm the "now you see it, now you don't" smile was intentional, tied to viewing distance and focus—stronger when eyes are fixated or from afar.
Scientific and Neuropsychological AnalysesModern research often uses emotion recognition, chimeric images (mirrored halves), and software:
  • Asymmetric/non-genuine smile — A 2019 study in Cortex (University of Cincinnati, Sapienza University, St. George's) analyzed chimeric images: the left side (right brain hemisphere control) shows happiness in ~93% of ratings, while the right side appears neutral or negative. No upper-face (eye) involvement means it's not a full Duchenne smile (genuine happiness). They interpret it as a "non-genuine" or polite/forced expression—possibly because prolonged posing made true happiness impossible, or as a deliberate cryptic message (e.g., hinting at hidden meanings like a lie or inner turmoil).
  • Emotion software results — University of Freiburg studies using AI emotion detection found the smile overwhelmingly rated "happy" (up to 97% on the original mouth), countering mixed-emotion ideas and emphasizing pure contentment in broad perception.
  • Visual noise and randomness — Researchers like Christopher Tyler suggest random neural noise in human vision causes the perceived changes.
Psychological and Interpretive TheoriesThese focus on emotion, intent, or symbolism:
  • Bittersweet or mixed emotions — Some see joy tinged with sadness—perhaps reflecting Lisa Gherardini's life (e.g., post-childbirth or loss). Historical anecdotes suggest Leonardo used musicians/jesters to entertain her, yet the smile remains restrained.
  • Inner turmoil or mystery — Leonardo's own writings emphasize portraits capturing the "inner movements of the mind." The smile may represent feminine enigma, secrecy, or the unknowability of true emotion (as Walter Isaacson notes: we can't fully read inner feelings from outer signs).
  • Freudian psychoanalysis — Sigmund Freud famously linked it to Leonardo's childhood memory of his mother's approving smile, projecting maternal tenderness (though this is largely discredited today).
Other Speculative Ideas
  • Medical conditions — Fringe theories suggest Bell's palsy (facial paralysis) or dental issues caused asymmetry, but these lack strong evidence.
  • Identity/symbolism — Some claim it's Leonardo's self-portrait (androgynous features) or an ideal woman, with the smile symbolizing hidden knowledge or androgyny.
Ultimately, the smile's power lies in its refusal to be pinned down—Leonardo's genius in sfumato, anatomy, and perception ensures it changes with the viewer, distance, focus, and mood. Recent perceptual studies (like 2024's) reinforce that the enigma is rooted in how our brains process ambiguous visual information, not a single "secret."
Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF natural color

3
1510 The Codex Leicester
1994 SOLD for $ 31M by Christie's​

From 1475 Leonardo da Vinci recorded everyday all his ideas about the nature of the world in its whole variety, in the form of notes in ancient Italian language illustrated with sketches. In this polygraphic bulimia, he accumulated about 13,000 pages, on double-sided sheets folded in half.

Leonardo is neither a scientist nor an engineer in the modern meaning of these terms. He does not waste his time analyzing the consequences of his theories or conceiving the realization of his inventions. In his swarming of ideas, he could be wonderfully right and naively wrong, and he was certainly unable to distinguish between these two extremes.

For this left-hander, the mirror writing is the way he has found so that his thinking is not slowed down by his hand. The use of numerous abbreviations, which makes these texts extremely difficult to decipher, is consistent with this hypothesis. We will never know how he desired exploiting such a unique mass of informations.

These writings were later assembled into notebooks, identified under the more technical term of codex. The Codex Leicester is the only one remaining in private hands. It was sold by Christie's for $ 5.1M on December 12, 1980 and for $ 31M on November 11, 1994. Between these two sales it was named the Codex Hammer. It was bought by Bill Gates at the last auction. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
​
The Codex Leicester is made up of 18 double sheets of parchment for a total of 72 pages 22 x 30 cm. It brings together his notes written around 1510 on the theme of the water movements. The author imagines that his ideas could be used for the design of bridges.

His observation on the presence of fossils in the mountains brings an explanation far ahead of his time : they were originally in a seabed which was raised by a geophysical phenomenon. This hypothesis is all the more remarkable since the monotheistic religions of his time do not question the creationism.

In the same notebook, he explains the luminosity of the Moon by the reflection of sunlight on its surface entirely covered with water.

​The Codex Leicester (also historically known as the Codex Hammer) is one of Leonardo da Vinci's most important surviving scientific notebooks. It consists of 72 pages (36 folded sheets) of handwritten notes and drawings, composed in mirror script (Leonardo's characteristic right-to-left writing). Dated primarily to around 1508–1510 (with some sections possibly earlier), it reflects his mature investigations into natural phenomena during his later years.
Content
The manuscript focuses on scientific observations and theories, primarily related to water, its movements, and its role in the natural world. Leonardo organizes his thoughts into thematic sections, blending empirical observation, experiments, philosophical speculation, and remarkable foresight.
​Key topics include:
  • The nature and motion of water — Leonardo explores how water flows in rivers, eddies, whirlpools, waves, and tides. He describes phenomena like turbulence, erosion, and the behavior of water in pipes or when striking surfaces—ideas that anticipate modern fluid dynamics.
  • Hydrology and geology — He discusses why fossils are found on mountains (attributing it to ancient seas rising and falling), river formation, the geological history of Earth, and processes like sedimentation and erosion.
  • Astronomy and cosmology — Sections address the "lunar problem" (why the moon appears illuminated even in its dark parts, correctly attributing it to Earthshine—sunlight reflected from Earth).
  • Light, optics, and related phenomena — Observations on reflection, refraction, and how water interacts with light.
  • Other elements — Brief notes on air, fire, earth, and the four classical elements, plus practical applications like canal engineering and water management.
The codex features hundreds of diagrams, sketches, and cross-sections—such as water currents, geological strata, and celestial bodies—drawn with Leonardo's precision. These visuals complement his text, demonstrating his method of using drawing as a tool for thinking and explaining complex ideas.Unlike his artistic masterpieces, this is a working notebook: dense, exploratory, and interdisciplinary, showcasing Leonardo's relentless curiosity about how the universe operates through natural laws rather than supernatural causes.
Sale at Christie's on November 11, 1994
The manuscript was auctioned by Christie's in New York on November 11, 1994, under the name Codex Hammer (from its previous owner, industrialist Armand Hammer, who acquired it in 1980). Bidding started at around $5.5 million and escalated rapidly amid intense interest.It sold for a hammer price of $28.5 million, plus buyer's premium, totaling $30,802,500 (approximately $65 million in today's dollars). This set records as:
  • The most expensive manuscript ever sold at auction at the time.
  • The highest price for any work by Leonardo da Vinci.
  • One of the priciest books or documents in history.
The buyer was Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, who purchased it anonymously through a representative. Gates has since made portions digitally accessible and loaned it for public exhibitions worldwide.
Legacy
The Codex Leicester stands as a pinnacle of Leonardo's scientific legacy, illustrating his role as a pioneer of empirical science and the scientific method centuries before its formalization.
  • Scientific foresight — Many observations (e.g., on water flow, Earthshine, geological change) were remarkably accurate and prefigured later discoveries in hydrology, geology, and astronomy.
  • Interdisciplinary genius — It exemplifies Leonardo's fusion of art, science, and philosophy: precise drawings serve as both illustration and analytical tool.
  • Cultural impact — As the only major Leonardo manuscript in private hands, it symbolizes the enduring value of intellectual curiosity. Bill Gates has emphasized its relevance to modern innovation, often displaying it in museums (e.g., exhibitions at the British Library, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and others) to inspire new generations.
  • Preservation and access — Gates has supported digitization efforts, making high-resolution images and transcriptions available online (via platforms like the Gates Notes or museum sites), broadening scholarly and public access.
The codex remains a testament to Leonardo's belief that "nature is the source of all true knowledge," influencing fields from environmental science to creative problem-solving today.
Vinci - Hammer 2A

MICHELANGELO

masterpiece
1501-1504 David
Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence

The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution ​Jörg Bittner Unna, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. David is a 5.17-metre (17.0 ft) statue of a standing male nude. Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy.
  • Carved from a single block of Carrara marble between 1501 and 1504, the 17-foot nude depicts the biblical David in a tense, pre-battle contrapposto pose, symbolizing Florence's republican ideals and Renaissance anatomical precision, as noted in Vasari's historical accounts.

​The influence of ancient Roman sculpture on Michelangelo Buonarroti was profound and foundational, particularly during his formative years (roughly 1489–1496, ages 14–21) and throughout his career. This exposure helped shape his obsession with the idealized, heroic male nude, dynamic contrapposto poses, muscular anatomy, and the expression of inner tension through the body—hallmarks of his High Renaissance style.
Formative Exposure in Florence (Medici Garden, c. 1489–1492)
Michelangelo's earliest direct encounter with ancient Roman (and Greek) sculpture came through the Medici family's collection. After a brief apprenticeship in Domenico Ghirlandaio's workshop (1488), the young Michelangelo was invited by Lorenzo de' Medici ("il Magnifico") to study in the Medici Garden (also called the Platonic Academy or sculpture garden). This informal "academy" housed Lorenzo's vast holdings of antique marbles, including Roman copies of Greek originals, sarcophagi reliefs, and statuary fragments.
  • Under the guidance of Bertoldo di Giovanni (Donatello's pupil), Michelangelo drew, copied, and carved from these antiquities alongside humanist scholars, poets, and philosophers.
  • This immersion revived classical ideals of proportion, ideal beauty, and the human form as the pinnacle of artistic expression—contrasting with the more decorative or symbolic Gothic/Medieval traditions.
  • Early works reflect this: His lost Head of a Faun (c. 1489) copied an ancient model, while the Battle of the Centaurs relief (c. 1490–1492) drew from Roman sarcophagi and Greek battle scenes (e.g., Lapiths vs. Centaurs motifs), with multidirectional, writhing figures in high relief that broke from flat planes.
This period instilled a lifelong reverence for antiquity: Michelangelo viewed ancient sculpture as superior in capturing movement, volume, and emotional power through anatomy alone.
Early Career Forgery and Roman Move (1490s)
By his late teens/early 20s, Michelangelo's skill in mimicking ancient Roman styles was so advanced that he forged a Sleeping Cupid (c. 1496), artificially aging it to pass as an antique. Sold through a dealer to Cardinal Riario in Rome, the forgery was discovered—but Riario, impressed by the imitation of classical form, invited Michelangelo to Rome instead of punishing him. In Renaissance terms, masterful copying of antiquity proved genius, not deceit.In Rome (from 1496), Michelangelo encountered more antiquities firsthand, including emerging papal collections.
Key Ancient Sculptures and Specific Influences
Michelangelo drew inspiration from several iconic ancient works (mostly Roman copies of Hellenistic/Greek originals), which he studied, copied, and internalized:
  • Belvedere Torso (1st century BC marble, fragmentary male nude, signed by Apollonios): Michelangelo called himself its "disciple" or "school." He admired its contorted, twisting pose, exaggerated musculature, and sense of dynamic potential despite incompleteness. It influenced:
    • The powerful, muscular torsos in his nudes (e.g., Ignudi on the Sistine Chapel ceiling).
    • Figures in the Last Judgment (Christ's torso echoes its heroic build).
    • Later works like the Day and Night in the Medici Tombs.
  • Laocoön and His Sons (rediscovered 1506, Hellenistic original c. 1st century BC): Michelangelo was among the first experts at its excavation and correctly intuited the bent (not extended) right arm of Laocoön. Its anguished, straining figures and dramatic torsion influenced:
    • The expressive suffering in Last Judgment (e.g., Christ's raised, bent arm).
    • Overall portrayal of bodily agony and heroic struggle.
  • Apollo Belvedere (Roman copy of Greek original): Its idealized face and graceful contrapposto informed facial features and poised stances in Michelangelo's figures (e.g., aspects in Last Judgment Christ).
These sculptures, displayed in the Vatican Belvedere Courtyard, reinforced Michelangelo's focus on the nude as the ultimate artistic subject—conveying anatomy, motion, emotion, and divine/human potential without narrative props.
Broader Impact on Michelangelo's Oeuvre
​Ancient Roman sculpture bridged Michelangelo's early naturalism (from Masaccio and Donatello) to his mature idealism. It fueled his belief in "liberating" the figure from the marble block (as if the form pre-existed within). This is evident in masterpieces like:
  • David (1501–1504): A colossal nude hero in contrapposto, echoing Greek/Roman athlete statues but infused with Florentine republican spirit.
  • Pietà (1498–1499): Balanced, classical drapery and serene beauty.
  • Sistine Chapel figures: Muscular, twisting nudes drawing from Belvedere Torso and Laocoön.
  • Medici Chapel tombs: Allegorical figures with antique-inspired torsion and monumentality.
In summary, ancient Roman sculpture provided Michelangelo not just models but a philosophical framework: the human body as perfect, heroic, and expressive of inner life. This classical revival—amplified by Medici patronage and Roman discoveries—elevated him from gifted youth to the "Divine" artist who synthesized antiquity with Christian themes in unprecedented ways.
Michelangelo's David - right view, c. 1501-1504. Marble, 517 × 199 cm (17 × 6.5 ft). Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence

​1511-1512 Sibyl's Foot Study for the Sistine Chapel
​2026 SOLD for $ 27M by Christie's

Study by Michelangelo for the right foot of the Libyan Sibyl of the Sistine Chapel ceiling
red chalk on paper 13.5 x 11.5 cm
sold for $ 27M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on February 5, 2026, lot 8.
​The verso is a study in black chalk of a leg with knee bent.​

The Michelangelo red chalk drawing of the right foot of the Libyan Sibyl (c. 1511–12), sold by Christie's on February 5, 2026, for $27.2 million (hammer plus premium), is a tiny (approx. 5 x 4.5 inches), highly focused anatomical study in red chalk on paper. It is a preparatory detail for one of the most iconic figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, showing Michelangelo's obsessive pursuit of realistic weight, tension, and foreshortening in a monumental three-quarter-view pose. Newly discovered, previously unknown to scholars, and authenticated unanimously, it became the first unrecorded Sistine preparatory drawing at auction and set a new auction record for any Michelangelo work.
​
Position the Sistine Chapel ceiling in art history. Significance of the drawing sold at Christie's. Position it in the timeline of the Sistine Chapel Project.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti in fresco between 1508 and 1512, stands as one of the supreme masterpieces of Western art history and a defining achievement of the High Renaissance. Commissioned by Pope Julius II, it transformed the relatively plain vault (previously a starry sky) into a vast theological and humanistic narrative. The ceiling features over 300 figures across nine central panels from Genesis (Creation scenes, Adam and Eve, Noah), surrounded by monumental Prophets and Sibyls (ancient female prophetesses symbolizing pre-Christian wisdom anticipating Christ), ignudi (nude youths), and ancestral figures of Christ.
In art history, it marks the pinnacle of Renaissance ideals: the celebration of human anatomy, dynamic movement, foreshortening, and the heroic nude form, influenced by classical antiquity yet infused with profound spiritual depth. Michelangelo, primarily a sculptor, elevated painting through his sculptural approach—treating figures with monumental plasticity and emotional intensity. It bridged Renaissance harmony with emerging Mannerist tension (e.g., twisted poses, compressed space), influencing generations from Raphael to later Baroque artists. Often called a "beacon" of art (per Giorgio Vasari), it symbolizes the era's fusion of classical revival, Christian theology, and individual genius, while its iconography reflects Neoplatonic ideas of spiritual ascent and humanity's relationship with the divine.
The recently sold drawing at Christie's—a small red chalk study of a right foot (c. 1511–12), measuring about 5 x 4.5 inches—holds exceptional significance as a preparatory work for the Libyan Sibyl, one of the five Sibyls on the ceiling (positioned at the east end near the altar). This figure, shown twisting dramatically to close a book while her right foot presses firmly on the ground, exemplifies Michelangelo's obsessive anatomical precision and interest in weight, tension, and balance.
This sheet was a "once-in-a-generation" discovery: previously unknown and unpublished for centuries, emerging from a private collection (inherited through generations) via a routine valuation photo submitted to Christie's. After expert authentication (unanimous among Michelangelo scholars), it became the first unrecorded preparatory drawing for the Sistine ceiling ever offered at auction. With only 10 Michelangelo drawings in private hands globally and few (50 total) linked to the Sistine project, its rarity drove massive demand. Sold on February 5, 2026, for $27.2 million (far exceeding the $1.5–2 million estimate), it set a new auction record for the artist, underscoring surging interest in Old Master works and Michelangelo's enduring market power.

​1500-1510 The Man of Sorrows by Botticelli
2022 SOLD for $ 45M by Sotheby's

After the fall of the Medici, the Dominican friar Savonarola established a de facto religious dictature in Florence. The required purge from sins and vanities included bonfires of luxury objects including clothings and secular paintings.

Botticelli's art changed. The time of his signature theme of the Virgin of Tenderness was over. He possibly was not reluctant with the new trend. After the fall of the dictatorship in 1498, Botticelli's studio was sometimes used by his brother for secret meetings of Savonarola's sympathizers.

A mid length life size figure of Christ is typical of that new mood. Botticelli painted it in tempera and oil by canceling a Virgin of Tenderness on a panel 69 x 51 cm.

The main theme is a Man of Sorrows. The iconography of this specific piece goes far beyond up to a global representation of the Passion including Redemption and Resurrection.

The image is blending the human and the divine. The full frontal face has an expression of suffering temperated with a desire to confront and convince. The gaze goes straight to the viewer, just like Leonardo's Salvator Mundi and Dürer's self portrait made at that same period otherwise marked by the fear of a mid-millennium apocalypse.

The divine is represented by the bleeding wounds of the thorns and by the stigmata of the Crucifixion in the hands. The unprecedented move of this unique picture is the replacement of the halo by a circle of angels in grisaille that reluctantly display the instruments of his torture such as the ladder, the scourge and the lance.

There is no similar example known in Christian iconography. We will never know whether the master executed it for his own salvation or for proposing a new theme which still had no follow when he died in 1510.

The painting surfaced in the mid 19th century in a family of famous English actors and was authenticated as an autograph work by Botticelli when it was sold at Sotheby's in 1963. Further studies are now confirming that prestigious attribution. It was sold for $ 45M on January 27, 2022 by Sotheby's, lot 14. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Compare The Man of Sorrows by Botticelli (ca 1500-1510, sold on January 27, 2022 by Sotheby's, lot 14) with Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci.
Overview
Both The Man of Sorrows by Sandro Botticelli (c. 1500–1510, tempera and oil on panel, sold for $45.4 million at Sotheby's in 2022) and Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1500, oil on walnut panel, sold for $450.3 million in 2017) are late-period depictions of Christ as a half-length frontal figure, created around the same time during a period of religious intensity in Renaissance Italy. They share a stark, devotional format but differ profoundly in iconography, emotional tone, style, and artistic intent.
Iconography
Botticelli : Christ as the suffering "Man of Sorrows" (Imago Pietatis tradition): crown of thorns, bound hands/wrists, wounds visible, surrounded by angels holding Arma Christi (instruments of the Passion: cross, whip, lance, etc.). Emphasizes humiliation and sacrifice.
Leinardo : Christ as "Savior of the World": blessing gesture with right hand, holding transparent crystal orb (symbolizing the cosmos) in left. Emphasizes divinity, kingship, and salvation.
Pose & Gaze
Botticelli : Nearly frontal but slightly asymmetrical (tilted head, uneven eyes/mouth/nose for a human, "photographed" feel). Direct, beseeching gaze that engages the viewer personally, conveying suffering and quiet acceptance.
Leonardo : Strictly frontal and symmetrical, rigid like a Byzantine icon or the Veil of Veronica. Serene, timeless, ethereal gaze.
Emotional Tone
Botticelli : Intense humanity and pathos: somber, introspective, spiritual anguish influenced by Savonarola's preaching. Focus on physical/emotional suffering with psychological depth.
Leonardo : Divine serenity and transcendence: calm, otherworldly authority. Highlights Christ's godlike power over the world.
Style & Technique
Botticelli : Linear grace typical of Botticelli (sharp contours, elegant lines), even in late somber phase. Tempera/oil on panel; dark background; angels form a dynamic "halo." Some critics note awkward hands or stereotypical angels.
Leonado : Masterful sfumato (soft, smoky blending without harsh lines) for ethereal luminosity and depth. Oil on panel; subtle modeling of flesh, curls, and robes; innovative rendering of light/refraction in orb.
Composition
Botticelli : Dramatic close-up with Passion symbols integrated (angels arrayed around head). Underlying pentimento reveals reused panel from abandoned Madonna and Child.
Leonardo : Balanced, monumental simplicity; transparent robes and orb add intellectual/scientific layers (orb shows Leonardo's optical studies, though not fully realistic refraction).
Context & Period
Botticelli : Late Botticelli: shift to religious intensity post-Savonarola; visionary spirituality over earlier humanistic beauty.
Leonardo : Late Leonardo: blend of religious icon and scientific observation; possibly commissioned for French royalty.
Condition & Attribution
Botticelli : Well-preserved; reattributed to Botticelli himself in 2009 (previously workshop).
Leonardo : Heavily restored; attribution debated (some see studio involvement due to damage and inconsistencies).
Similarities
  • Both are rare late works by Florentine masters, painted c. 1500 amid millennial anxieties and religious fervor.
  • Frontal, bust-length portraits of Christ for private devotion, evoking direct spiritual confrontation.
  • Stark backgrounds enhance psychological intensity and modernity.
  • Both fetched record prices as rediscovered/rediscovered masterpieces, highlighting market fascination with Renaissance Christs.
Differences Summary
Botticelli's painting is a visceral meditation on human suffering and redemption through pain, rooted in medieval Passion imagery but infused with personal empathy. Leonardo's is an intellectual vision of divine majesty and cosmic order, showcasing innovative technique and serene detachment. While Botticelli humanizes Christ's torment, Leonardo elevates his transcendence—making them complementary yet contrasting expressions of Renaissance faith around 1500.

masterpiece
1502 Feldhase by Dürer
Albertina Wien

The image is shared by Wikimedia.

Grok thought :

Quote
The Cultural Tutor @culturaltutor May 21, 2024
How did he manage that? Dürer was obviously an artist with extraordinary natural gifts, one who could render seemingly anything with the utmost precision and detail. Even something as simple as a hare:
  • This post, embedded in a 29-part thread marking Albrecht Dürer's 553rd birthday on May 21, 1471, spotlights his 1502 watercolor "Young Hare" as a pinnacle of naturalistic precision, blending Northern detail with Italian-influenced anatomy.
  • Scholars posit Dürer studied dead hares for accuracy, rendering each fur strand individually in a 25x23 cm work now at Vienna's Albertina, elevating animal depiction from symbolic to scientific in Renaissance art.
  • The hare embodies Dürer's curious ego—much like his Christ-like self-portrait—fueling his superstar appeal through mass-produced engravings that democratized art via the printing press, amassing over a million thread views.​
Young Hare (1502). Albertina Museum, Vienna

1505 The Rothschild Prayerbook
2014 SOLD for $ 13.6M by Christie's

The printed book cannot claim to achieve the beauty of illuminated manuscripts. Under the Habsburgs, the best Flemish painters illustrate books of great luxury. They have not revealed all their secrets : the artists did not sign and the sponsors are not identified.

One of these masterpieces is known as the Rothschild Prayerbook. It was sold by Christie's for £ 8.6M on July 8, 1999 and for $ 13.6M on January 29, 2014. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

It is a book of hours for the use of Rome (meaning that it is based on Roman liturgy), made ​​around 1505 in Ghent or Bruges. In a small format 23 x 16 cm, this book with 252 leaves in luxurious vellum includes 67 large illustrations.

From an iconographic point of view, it is a fabulous collection of religious and liturgical scenes, showing in very fresh colors the life and customs of its time. Decorative borders offer an extended variety of topics.

The styles of these images clearly show that several workshops have co-operated, and comparison with other manuscripts and paintings can identify that it was made by the most renowned artists of their time. Their co-operation in such collective artworks was an extraordinary and unique business of which no direct witnessing has surfaced.

The main illustrators of the Rothschild Prayerbook were Gerard Horenbout who worked at Ghent and Alexander Bening, a member of the guilds of Bruges and Ghent. Simon Bening, son of Alexander, to whom a few images are attributed, will be the last great Flemish illuminator. The style of Gerard David, the leading painter in Bruges at that time, is recognized on several images.

masterpiece
40 BCE, discovered 1506 Laocoon
Vatican

The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution ​Vatican Museums, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The Laocoön and His Sons (also known as the Laocoön Group or Gruppo del Laocoonte) is one of the most renowned and influential sculptures from antiquity, a dramatic marble group now housed in the Vatican Museums in Rome (Museo Pio-Clementino, Octagonal Court / Cortile Ottagono). Dated to the late Hellenistic or early Imperial Roman period—most scholars favor ca. 40–30 BCE, though debates range from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE—it measures about 208 cm (6 feet 10 inches) in height, with the figures carved from multiple blocks of white marble (likely not a single block as Pliny claimed).
The composition captures the Trojan priest Laocoön (a figure from the Trojan War cycle, brother of Anchises and uncle of Aeneas) and his two young sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus, in the throes of death by giant sea serpents. According to Virgil's Aeneid (Book II), Laocoön warned the Trojans against accepting the Greek wooden horse ("Beware of Greeks bearing gifts"), angering Athena (or Poseidon in some versions) who favored the Greeks. The gods sent serpents from the sea to strangle him and his sons as divine punishment, ensuring Troy's fall and Aeneas's flight to found Rome. The sculpture freezes this moment of agony: Laocoön's muscular body arches back in torment, mouth open in a silent scream, one arm raised in futile struggle; the serpents coil tightly around the trio, their scales and fangs rendered with astonishing detail; the sons writhe in despair—one already limp, the other reaching desperately.
The work exemplifies Hellenistic sculpture's emphasis on pathos (emotional intensity), dynamic movement, exaggerated musculature, and theatrical drama—contrasting with Classical restraint. The figures twist in contrapposto extremes, faces contorted in pain yet dignified, drapery minimal to highlight anatomy. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (36.37), praised it extravagantly as a work "to be preferred to any other production of the art of painting or of bronze statuary," attributing it to the Rhodian sculptors Agesander (Hagesandros), Athenodorus, and Polydorus (likely a Roman-era marble version or adaptation of a lost Hellenistic bronze original).
Its rediscovery on January 14, 1506 (or February in some accounts), in a vineyard on Rome's Esquiline Hill (near the ancient Domus Aurea and Baths of Trajan) owned by Felice de Fredis, electrified the Renaissance. Workers digging foundations unearthed the nearly complete group (missing the right arm of Laocoön and parts of the sons' arms). Pope Julius II, a passionate antiquarian, dispatched experts—including Michelangelo and architect Giuliano da Sangallo—to verify it matched Pliny's description. Michelangelo reportedly exclaimed in awe upon seeing it. The pope purchased it immediately, and by August 1506, it was installed as the centerpiece of the newly created Belvedere Courtyard (now part of the Vatican Museums), kickstarting the Vatican's collection of antiquities and inspiring generations of artists.
The missing right arm sparked centuries of debate and restoration: Michelangelo advocated a bent, raised arm (contrasting earlier straight-arm proposals); a bronze copy from 1543 showed it straight. In 1906, archaeologist Ludwig Pollak discovered the original bent right arm fragment in a Roman builder's yard; it was donated to the Vatican and fitted in 1957, confirming Michelangelo's intuition and enhancing the sculpture's dramatic tension.
In art history, the Laocoön profoundly shaped Western aesthetics: it influenced Michelangelo's figures (e.g., in the Sistine Chapel), Baroque dynamism (Bernini drew from its pathos), and Enlightenment theories of the sublime and expression (Lessing's Laocoön essay on poetry vs. visual arts limits). It became a benchmark for ideal beauty amid suffering, copied endlessly in casts, engravings, and reductions. As of February 2026, it remains a highlight of the Vatican Museums' Octagonal Court, conserved meticulously, its writhing forms and raw emotion still evoking visceral responses—embodying antiquity's mastery of human anguish, divine retribution, and sculptural virtuosity after over 2,000 years.
Laocoon and His Sons

TITIAN

1
​for reference
1508-1510 Lochis Madonna
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo

A highly eclectic artist, Giorgione had a lasting influence in the Venetian school of painting. In his idyllic or pastoral scenes, he used nature as a setting that framed the narration. He used brilliant pigments that were imported by the city for the textiles and glass industries, and was influential in the latest style of his master Giovanni Bellini.

In the second half of the first decade, it is very difficult to distinguish the paintings by Giorgione from those by Tiziano Vecelli whose name will be latinized as Titian. Giorgione died in his mid 30s in a plague in Venice in 1510.

Early connoisseurs commented that Titian's contributions were superior to Giorgione's.The image is shared by Wikimedia.

No artist of that period could ignore the Christian scenes for his business. A panel 39 x 48 cm known as the Madonna Lochis from a previous owner, painted by Titian ca 1508-1510, features a Madonna and Child framed by verdant hills.
16th-century paintings in Galleria dell’Accademia Carrara (Bergamo)

2
​masterpiece
1510 Sleeping Venus by Giorgione, completed by Titian
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

A joint work is Giorgione's Venus sleeping in the nude, completed after his death by Titian and a close forerunner of Titian's Venus of Urbino.The image is shared by Wikimedia.

​Asking Grok 4 to define position in art history :

Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (c. 1510), also known as the Dresden Venus, is a landmark painting in the history of Western art, particularly within the Venetian Renaissance. It is widely regarded as the first large-scale reclining female nude in European painting, establishing a new archetype for depicting the human body that blended sensuality, mythology, and naturalism. This work marked a shift from the more rigid, allegorical nudes of earlier periods toward a more poetic and idealized representation of feminine beauty, influenced by classical antiquity but rendered with innovative Venetian techniques like atmospheric landscape integration and soft, luminous color.

The painting's significance lies in its pioneering role as a prototype for the reclining nude genre, which profoundly influenced subsequent artists. For instance, Titian, who is believed to have completed the landscape after Giorgione's early death, drew directly from it for his Venus of Urbino (1538), while later figures like Manet referenced it in Olympia (1863), subverting its classical idealism. By portraying Venus asleep in a serene, idyllic landscape—symbolizing harmony between humanity and nature—Giorgione elevated the nude beyond mere eroticism to a contemplative, almost philosophical ideal of beauty and repose. This approach helped define the Venetian school's emphasis on color, mood, and sensory experience over Florentine linear precision.

​In broader art historical context, Sleeping Venus exemplifies the High Renaissance's humanist revival of classical themes, while foreshadowing Mannerist and Baroque explorations of the body. Its innovative composition and subtle eroticism without overt sexuality made it a touchstone for discussions on gender, mythology, and the gaze in art. The painting has been housed in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden since the 18th century, where it remains a cornerstone of the collection.
Sleeping Venus, also known as Dresden Venus (c. 1510-1511), traditionally attributed to Giorgione but for which Titian at least completed the landscape. Oil on canvas, 108.5 × 175 cm (42.7 × 69 in). Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

3
​The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
2024 SOLD for £ 17.6M by Christie's

From the same period an undated Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Titian features a family in an Italian bucolic landscape that has nothing to do with Egypt. The composition is centered on the well-lit young mother in a tender embrace with her naked baby whom she had just unclothed for taking a rest. Joseph is an aging man who listens from the shadow. The title is taken from the Gospel of Matthew.

This oil on canvas laid on panel 46 x 63 cm was highlighted at a choice place near the doorway in a kunstkammer painting of the archduke of Austria in the mid 17th century by Teniers in Brussels. It was sold for £ 17.6M by Christie's on July 2, 2024, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.

​Grok response :

Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Jul 2, 2024
#AuctionUpdate A work last auctioned by Christie's in 1878, #Titian's early masterpiece ‘The Rest on the Flight into Egypt’ realised £17,560,000, achieving a #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist: http://bit.ly/3L7zthh

  • The painting "The Rest on the Flight into Egypt" by Titian, auctioned for £17.56 million in 2024, was created when he was likely under 20, showcasing his early genius and influencing the Venetian Renaissance with its innovative "mood landscape" style, as noted in Christie’s historical analysis.
  • This artwork’s journey includes a dramatic theft from Longleat House and recovery by an art detective, reflecting its status as a coveted piece across centuries, owned by figures like Venetian merchants and European aristocrats, per Christie’s documentation.
  • The record-breaking sale challenges the art market’s undervaluation of early Renaissance works, with data from Artprice.com indicating a 15% annual growth in high-value Old Master auctions since 2020, suggesting a resurgence in demand for such masterpieces.

Tiziano, riposo dalla fuga in egitto

RAPHAEL
Intro

Compare the Study for the Transfiguration by Raphael (ca 1520, sold by Sotheby's on December 5, 2012) with the Muse (ca 1508-1511, sold by Christie's on December 8, 2009).

Overview
Both works are highly finished black chalk drawings by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483–1520), representing rare "auxiliary cartoons"—life-size or near-life-size studies of heads created late in the artistic process to transfer directly to major commissions in the Vatican. These are among the finest examples of Raphael's draughtsmanship, showcasing his mastery of volume, light, and emotional expression through subtle chalk modeling. They achieved record-breaking prices at auction, reflecting their exceptional quality and rarity (only a handful of comparable Raphael head studies have appeared on the market in modern times).
Key Details
Common Title
Apostle : Head of a Young Apostle
Muse : Head of a Muse
Date
Apostle : ca. 1519–1520
Muse : ca. 1508–1511
Related Work
Apostle : Final painting: Transfiguration (Vatican Museums; Raphael's unfinished last masterpiece, combining the Transfiguration of Christ with the healing of a possessed boy)
Muse : Fresco: Parnassus (Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican; depicting Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus)
Subject
Apostle : Head of a bearded young apostle (figure at far left in lower group of the painting, gazing upward in awe)
Muse : Head of a female Muse (third Muse to the right of Apollo in the fresco, idealized classical beauty)
Medium & Technique
Apostle : Black chalk; highly finished with subtle shading for dramatic light effects and emotional intensity
Muse : Black chalk over pounce marks (pricked dots for transfer) and traces of stylus; finely modeled face with softer, more ethereal rendering
Size (approx.)
Apostle : 38 × 28 cm (life-size auxiliary cartoon)
Muse : 31 × 22 cm
Provenance Highlight
Apostle : From the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth (acquired ca. 1720s)
Muse : Passed through collections including Sir Thomas Lawrence and King William II of Holland
Auction Price
Apostle : £29.7 million (approx. $47.8 million)
Muse : £29.2 million (approx. $47.9 million)
Significance
Apostle : Captures late Raphael's innovative, proto-Baroque drama and psychological depth; one of six surviving auxiliary cartoons for the Transfiguration
​Muse : Represents high Renaissance ideal beauty and harmony; direct study for Vatican Stanze frescoes executed alongside Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling
Stylistic and Artistic Comparison
  • Period in Raphael's Career: The Muse belongs to Raphael's early Roman phase (high Renaissance peak, influenced by classical antiquity and contemporaries like Michelangelo), emphasizing balanced composition, serene idealism, and graceful forms. The Apostle reflects his mature late style—more dynamic, emotionally charged, and anticipatory of Baroque intensity, with stronger chiaroscuro (light-dark contrast) to convey divine revelation and human awe.
  • Expression and Mood: The Muse is contemplative and idealized, with soft, luminous features evoking poetic inspiration and classical poise. The Apostle is intense and upward-gazing, conveying wonder and spiritual ecstasy amid the dramatic narrative of the Transfiguration.
  • Technical Mastery: Both demonstrate Raphael's unparalleled use of black chalk for nuanced tonal gradients and sculptural volume. The Muse shows finer, more delicate finishing on the face contrasting with sketchier areas; the Apostle employs bolder modeling for dramatic lighting, highlighting his evolving exploration of light and emotion.
  • Function: Both are preparatory "auxiliary cartoons" for precise transfer (via pouncing or tracing) to the final work, allowing Raphael to perfect key facial details independently.
These drawings exemplify why Raphael is often called the greatest draughtsman in Western art: they blend technical brilliance with profound humanism.

1
​​1508-1511 Muse
2009 SOLD for £ 29M by Christie's

Works by Raffaello were the subject of preparatory drawings very sharp, detailed and contrasted, at the exact size he wanted for the final paintng.

A black chalk drawing 30.5 x 22.2 cm was sold for £ 29M from a lower estimate of £ 12M by Christie's on December 8, 2009.

This pretty young woman head with flying hair in full frame is a preparation for a character of a Muse. It still have the perforations made by the artist to project the outline through the paper on the frescoes of the Vatican, executed between 1508 and 1511.

2
​1519-1520 Study for the Transfiguration
2012 SOLD for £ 29.7M by Sotheby's

On December 5, 2012, Sotheby's sold for £ 29.7M from a lower estimate of £ 10M a drawing by Raphael in black chalk, 38 x 28 cm, from the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire. Please watch the videos shared by the auction house.

This head of an apostle in meditation was made during the preparation of the Transfiguration, that huge oil on canvas, 405 x 278 cm, unfinished at the untimely death of the artist.

Completed by his studio, this monumental painting marks a turning point in Western art. The composition in two registers is bold. Above, Christ enters the light. The bright representation of the event is an iconographic challenge which anticipates Rembrandt.

Down on Earth, the apostles are attending a miracle by Christ, each one reacting in his own way. The care taken in the empathy between these men is announcing Mannerism and Baroque art.

The drawing for sale is not final and has not been pierced. This is a beautiful portrait of expression, with very nice thin line.

3
1518 Lorenzo II de' Medici
2007 SOLD for £ 18.5M by Christie's

Since 1513 the head of the Medici family has become pope under the name of Leo X. Like most popes of this period, he keenly supports his family. After the death of his brother Giuliano in 1516, the hopes of the Medici to preserve the dynasty are transferred to their 24-year-old nephew Lorenzo II. The young prince is named Duke of Urbino, with the constraint of having to take over that duchy from the Della Rovere family.

Lorenzo must therefore be married. The pope promotes a French alliance and the choice falls on Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, a cousin of King François I, in 1517. This marriage was political and the future newlyweds had obviously never met. Portraits will be exchanged during the preparation of this union.

The portrait of Lorenzo was entrusted at the beginning of 1518 to Raphael, a native of Urbino. The matter is urgent. The artist chooses the oil on canvas, which allows a faster execution than the wooden panel. The prince is seen in three quarter length, slightly turned to his right, the gaze directed towards the spectator. He is sumptuously dressed in brocade, velvet and fur. He holds in his hand a gold box supposedly decorated with a miniature portrait of his future wife.

This commission is of great political importance and there is no doubt that this painting is autograph by Raphael. The portrait of Lorenzo reached Paris in March in a convoy of gifts carried by 36 horses. The reciprocal portrait of Madeleine had arrived in Florence in the previous month. The marriage is celebrated on May 2 at the Château d'Amboise.

The original autograph painting, 97 x 78 cm, authenticated by modifications revealed by infrared photography, was sold for £ 18.5M by Christie's on July 5, 2007, lot 91. The image is shared by Wikimedia.

The glory of this prince was overrated. He had not won the war against the Della Rovere. He died in 1519 of syphilis, possibly contracted during his wedding trip. Madeleine had died a few days before him, two weeks after the birth of their only daughter who will become the French queen Catherine de Médicis.
Portrait of Lorenzo di Medici, Duke of Urbino (1492-1519)

masterpiece
1514 Le Prêteur et sa Femme by Metsys
Louvre

Thought by Grok :

Quote
Musée du Louvre @MuseeLouvre Jun 30
#UnJourUneOeuvre/#WorkOfTheDay Monnaie sonnante et trébuchante Dans « Le Prêteur et sa femme » de Quentin Metsys, l'argent occupe le centre de la scène : l'homme est absorbé par la pesée de pièces au moyen d'une petite balance appelée trébuchet. Il en vérifie le poids
  • The Louvre's post spotlights Quentin Metsys' 1514 oil painting "Le Prêteur et sa femme," depicting a moneylender obsessively weighing coins on a trébuchet scale while his wife glances at a religious text, allegorizing the conflict between material greed and spiritual devotion.
  • It traces the French idiom "espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes"—meaning hard cash—to 16th-century coin-testing methods: "sonnantes" from the clinking sound to check purity, and "trébuchantes" from the balance's tipping motion to verify weight.
  • Painted in Antwerp amid its trade prosperity, the work uses symbolic details like a reflective mirror distorting the room to underscore vanity, drawing from Northern Renaissance traditions blending realism with moral critique, as confirmed by Louvre curatorial analyses

1515 Moon Spring by Tang Yin
​2017 SOLD for RMB 92M by Poly

A native of Suzhou, Tang Yin was early talented for poetry. He also was a self taught painter.

Impeached in the imperial examination after a false accusation of bribing, he gave up an official career, traveled the mountains of Central China and Jiangnan and lived as a professional painter. Falling into debauchery, isolated and self taught, he was to become posthumously a sort of folk hero.

​In terms of landscapes, his unrestrained style mingling influences from north and south is in the follow of the Southern Song masters.

Pine Cliff Villa in autumn, color on paper 32 x 124 cm handscroll with a 96 cm colophon, was executed in a very thick ink by Tang Yin in Zhengde Wuchen year matching 1508.

Two dwellings are viewed through the natural canopy of a pine tree. Details include jars, plants and bamboo poles. The scenery is animated by a bearded nobleman and two boys. The work was executed as a commission from the villa owner, nicknamed Songya.

It was sold for RMB 71M by Poly on June 3, 2013, lot 2381.

​The Moon Spring scroll is a view in Jiangnan by Tang Yin. It is dated in the Yihai year of Zhengde matching 1515 CE through a poem in the colophon.

It is a scenery of lake, rocks and mountain, with cottages hidden in the bamboos. The bright and clean brush stroke expresses the quietness of the morning mist. The tiny figure of a noble man is looking at the lake.

This 31 cm wide ink on paper handscroll made of a 113 cm painting and a 135 cm postscript was sold for RMB 92M by Poly on December 17, 2017, lot 3539.