A recently discovered sketch of the feet of the famous Italian artist Michelangelo has sold for $23 million, more than 10 times its original estimate.
It is a sketch of the feet of the Libyan Sibyl (prophet) later painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican chapel, say experts from Christie's auction house.
The owner sent the photo for an auction appraisal to find out the true value of the work, Christie's added.
For Andrew Fletcher, head of the Department of Old Master Drawings, this discovery is "one of the moments in his career that he will remember forever."
The drawing was made in red chalk and was created around 1511-1512.
This was the period when Michelangelo was preparing to work on the second half of the Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings, including the Libyan Sibyl.
The anonymous owner, who lives on the West Coast of the United States (US), told Christie's auction house that he inherited the drawing from his grandmother.
The work has been passed down from generation to generation in Europe since the late 18th century.
Giada Damen from the Department of Old Master Drawings used infrared reflectography (a technique for preserving works of art) to discover drawings on the back of the sheet that also resembled Michelangelo's work.
She then compared the sketch of the foot with Michelangelo's drawing in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and concluded that the depiction of the lower leg was the original.
In recent years, several famous works of art have sold for millions of dollars.
One of the most expensive sales was recorded in 2017 when it was 500 years old. a painting of Jesus Christ believed to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci purchased in New York for a record $450 million.
November 2025. A portrait of Elisabeth Lederer by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt has been sold in New York for $236.4 million.
In the same month it for 54.7 million dollars a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican artist, was also sold, becoming the most expensive purchased work by an artist so far.
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