Raphael Drawing May Sell for Record $19.7 Million

Bloomberg: A drawing by the Italian renaissance artist Raphael is expected to fetch a world record price of at least 12 million pounds ($19.7 million) when it is offered for sale in London in December.

The 12-inch-high black chalk drawing, to be auctioned by Christie’s International in its Dec. 8 sale of Old Masters and 19th-century art, is a study for the head of a muse in Raphael’s fresco of Parnassus in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican, Rome, the London-based auction house said today in an e-mailed statement.

The composition retains the original perforations that would have allowed the artist to sprinkle black chalk dust through the paper to leave an outline.

“Raphael is one of the three most important artists of the Renaissance and he is also the rarest,” Stephen Ongpin, a London-based dealer in Old-Master drawings, said in an interview. “He has been at the top of the tree for 500 years. This is a truly significant work. A Raphael drawing of this quality hasn’t emerged since the 1980s.”

The subject of Apollo and the muses was one of four frescos by Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael, commissioned by Pope Julius II and executed between 1508 and 1511. The cycle of wall paintings is regarded by art historians as the summit of the painter’s career. Raphael died in 1520, aged 37.

Raphael’s Mind

“This truly exceptional drawing offers us a glimpse into the working mind of a genius,” Benjamin Peronnet, Christie’s international head of Old Master and 19th-century drawings, said. “It presents us with the immediacy of his thoughts and ideas, capturing the precise moment at which the artist’s hand and mind were applied to paper.”

The drawing has been entered by an anonymous private collector, Christie’s said. It was formerly owned by the painter Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) and by King William II of Holland (1792-1849). This is the first time it has appeared at auction for more than 150 years, said the auction house.

The record price for an old master drawing at auction is jointly held by Michelangelo’s “The Risen Christ” and Leonardo da Vinci’s “Horse and Rider,” both of which fetched 8.1 million pounds with fees at Christie’s in July 2000 and July 2001 respectively.

ambush in Islamabad

Islamabad:  Unidentified gunmen riding on motorcycles ambushed an army vehicle in the Pakistani capital on Thursday, unleashing a hail of bullets that killed a Brigadier and his guard and injured another soldier in the latest in a wave of deadly attacks targeting the security forces. Gunmen on a motorcycle killed Brigadier Moin Haider and his driver, city police official Tahir Alam said. A guard was wounded. "Witnesses have told us two men came on a motorcycle and opened fire," said another city police official Abdul Qadir. Military spokesmen were not available for comment. Witnesses said three armed gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire at the army jeep in a commercial area with several automobile workshops. The Brigadier and his guard were killed instantly in the firing that took place around 9 a.m local time, state-run PTV reported. Television footage showed the vehicle was riddled with bullets and its windscreen shattered. The windshield was hit by more than 10 bullets. Another soldier who was driving the vehicle was injured. The gunmen fled from the scene unchallenged. Security forces cordoned off the area and sealed several roads after the attack which was the second assault in Islamabad in three days. A search was launched to nab the attackers. "Two (soldiers) are dead, including one officer. There is one wounded, he is an army soldier," Doctor Altaf Hussein, a spokesman for Islamabad's main PIMS Hospital, told media. The Brigadier was serving with a UN peacekeeping mission abroad and had returned to Pakistan recently following the death of a relative, PTV reported. Police arrested four suspects, including a teenager, immediately after the attack. Several bullets also hit a vehicle parked at an automobile workshop. Thursday’s attack came two days after two suicide bombers struck the International Islamic University in Islamabad, killing six persons and injuring nearly 40 others. Over the past two weeks, Taliban militants have also targeted the UN food agency’s office in Islamabad and security facilities across the country, including the army’s general headquarters in Rawalpindi.