A sketch attributed to Michelangelo soon to be auctioned in New York

2024-01-26 13:48:21

Found by chance glued to the back of a drawing by another artist, a scribbled square identified as being in the hand of Michelangelo will be sold at auction in April in New York.

It is a simple square scribbled on a small piece of yellowed paper, but by the hand of the Renaissance genius Michelangelo according to the auction house Christie’s, which will put this drawing up for sale for an estimated value of less than $10,000. in April in New York.

The company’s experts were examining a drawing by another artist of the time, for an upcoming sale, when they say they saw, stuck to the back of the frame, “this little piece of paper with a drawing and a letter” handwritten, explains to AFP Stijn Alsteens, international head of the old master drawings department at Christie’s.

In period calligraphy, Cosimo Buonarroti, last direct descendant of Michelangelo, indicates in the letter, dated November 3, 1836, that he offers “the attached essay” by his “illustrious ancestor Michelangelo” to one of his friends, the Briton Sir John Bowring, future governor of Hong Kong, whose signature appears at the bottom of the sheet.

A drawing by Michelangelo, found by chance stuck behind a painting by another artist. © Angela Weiss – AFP

“Diagrams” filed on his work

The whole thing had already been sold by Christie’s in London in 1986, and the catalog already indicated the presence of the small square, “probably by the hand of Michelangelo”, without visibly arousing any interest.

Painter, sculptor and architect, Michelangelo (1475-1564) is the author of numerous masterpieces, including the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo made these little “diagrams” to indicate the type of block of marble he needed for his work, Stijn Alsteens points out. Without the artist’s signature, Christie’s nevertheless affirms that it is “100% Michelangelo”.

The drawing of the marble block is on display from Friday at Christie’s headquarters in New York, as part of its Old Masters sales, which begin next week.