The “Man of Sorrows”, depicting the risen Christ, dates from around 1500.
Sotheby’s has announced it will sell a 16th-century painting by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, The Man of Sorrows, depicting the risen Christ, dating to around 1500. The estimated cost of the masterpiece is $ 40 million, but experts estimate that amount will be far exceeded.
The Man of Sorrows is expected to replicate the success of another of Botticelli’s famous works, A Portrait of a Young Man with a Locket. It was sold at Sotheby’s New York for $ 92 million in January 2021, setting a new record for the prices of the Italian artist’s paintings. Previously, the painting “The Virgin with the Infant Christ and the Young St. John the Baptist” was sold in double the forecast in 2013. It was purchased for $ 10.4 million with a starting auction price of $ 5 million.
Sotheby’s notes that The Man of Sorrows is “a landmark masterpiece of the late Botticelli.” At the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, the faith of the already elderly Botticelli strengthened. He began to create canvases on religious themes, which differed from his earlier works, written mainly at the request of the Florentine nobles.
The painting is now on display in Hong Kong, where it will remain until October 11. It will then be shown in Los Angeles, London and Dubai before heading to New York. It is there in January 2022 that the auction of works by old masters will take place.
The portrait “The Man of Sorrow” is in a private collection from 1963. It was then acquired by a collector for £ 10,000. In the past half century, the painting has been exhibited publicly only once – in 2009 at a special exhibition at the Stedel Art Institute in the German city of Frankfurt am Main.
