Portrait of a Young Man holding a Roundel

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Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel
Botticelli - Portrait of a young man holding a medallion.jpg
ArtistSandro Botticelli
Yearc. 1480
MediumTempera on poplar wood
MovementItalian Renaissance
OwnerPrivate

The Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel (also known as Portrait of a Young Man holding a Trecento Medallion[1]) is a painting attributed to Sandro Botticelli. Due to its style it has been estimated to have been painted around 1480.[2] The identity of the subject of the portrait is unknown, but analysts suggest it could be someone from the Medici family, as Lorenzo de' Medici was one of his main benefactors.[3]

Description of the painting[]

The painting is believed to represent the beauty ideals[4] of the Florentine high society during the Renaissance.[5] His tunic is of a simple, fine quality and its blue colour was very rare at the time.[6] The work was painted with tempera on poplar wood[7] and has the dimensions of 58.7 cm in height by 38.9 cm in width.[1] The figure of the bearded saint in the trecento medallion[8] was added after the portrait was painted and is believed to be an original of Bartolomeo Bulgarini also known as the "Ovile Master".[8] The medallion has strong similarities to other works by Bulgarini[9] and it has further been assumed by that the medallion was originally part of a rectangular painting.[10] The young man is painted in front of a window frame in which the painter has included a manipulation of color.[8] The inner frame is held in an uniform grey color, but appears to have a bright blueish tone to the left but a darker grey one in the left which comes from environment of the frame which shows a bright grey strips at the left and dark strips in the right of the painting.[8] One of the young man's left hands fingers which support the medallion from below, rests on a bright grey strip at the bottom of the painting and appears to come out of the painting which provides the viewer with the illusion that the medallion is in another level within the painting.[8]

History and ownership[]

The first record of the painting was in 1938, when it was in the possession of Baron Newborough of Caernarvon.[1] At the time, the art dealer Frank Sabin[2] visited the Newborough estate and appraised the value of the painting.[1] As Lord Newborough did not know the true value of the painting, Sabin managed to buy the piece for a relatively small amount.[1] It is assumed by art historians that the painting came into the possession of the Newborough family when the 1st Baron Newborough, Thomas Winn, lived in Florence, Italy between 1782 and 1791.[2][1]

Frank Sabin sold the portrait to the collector Sir Thomas Merton in 1941 for a five-figure sum.[2] It is in his possession that the portrait was first described as a piece by Botticelli.[1] The attribution to Botticelli was put in doubt in later years, as prominent monographs on Botticelli did not include the portrait as a painting of Botticelli[11] but currently the attribution to Botticelli is accepted by a majority of the art historians.[2] During the time the Merton family owned the portrait, it became the subject of a poster for the Exhibition of Italian Art held by the Royal Academy of Arts in 1960.[12] In 1982, the portrait was sold by the descendants of Merton, to the highest bidder at an auction at Christie's for £810,000.[2]

After Sheldon Solow bought the piece at auction in 1982,[13][2] the portrait was given on loan to major Museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, United States, the National Gallery in London, England, and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt,[3] where it was displayed in a Botticelli exhibition in 2009–2010.[2] In January 2021, the portrait was sold at an auction at Sotheby's in New York for more than US$92.2 million.[14] It was the most valuable Old Masters painting sold at the auction house.[15]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Stapleford, Richard (1987). "Botticelli's Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Trecento Medallion". The Burlington Magazine. 129 (1012): 428–436. ISSN 0007-6287.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Thomas, Gina. "Mehr als 80 Millionen Dollar: Dieser Jüngling kann teuer werden". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 2020-09-27.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b Brown, Mark (2020-09-24). "'True beauty for the ages': $80m Botticelli to appear at auction". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-09-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ McGreevy, Nora. "One of the Last Privately Owned Botticelli Portraits Could Fetch $80 Million". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "Rare Botticelli portrait could reach $100 million at auction". Reuters. 2020-09-25. Retrieved 2020-12-19.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Garabedian, Maya. "Sandro Botticelli: A Closer Look at Young Man Holding a Roundel". www.mutualart.com. Retrieved 2020-12-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Gropp, Rose-Maria. "Altmeister-Markt: Der Preis ist heiß". FAZ.NET (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  8. ^ a b c d e Stapleford, Richard (1987), p.428
  9. ^ Stapleford, Richard (1987), p.432
  10. ^ Stapleford, Richard (1987), p.430
  11. ^ Stapleford, Richard (1987), p.432
  12. ^ Hartley, H.; Gabor, D. (1970). "Thomas Ralph Merton. 1888-1969". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 16: 434. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1970.0017.
  13. ^ Kazakina, Katya (2020-09-24). "NYC Property Billionaire Selling Botticelli for $80 Million". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2020-10-27.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ "Botticelli portrait sells for record $92.1m at Sotheby's in New York". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 2021-01-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ "Botticelli painting sells for record $120m at auction". ABC. 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2021-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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