Michelangelo drawing fetches $27.2 million at auction

A newly rediscovered drawing by Michelangelo has sold for an astounding $27.2 million at a Christie’s auction, setting a new record for the artist’s works. The five-inch chalk sketch, depicting the foot of the Libyan Sibyl, was auctioned on February 5, surpassing the previous record of $24.3 million set in 2022 for a drawing of a nude man.

The drawing, which shows the foot of the Libyan Sibyl with its heel raised off the ground, is famously connected to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. This iconic ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is one of the most celebrated works of art in the world, according to foriegn media. 

Christie’s noted that this piece is the only Michelangelo drawing related to the Sistine Chapel ceiling that has ever come to auction from private hands.

Giada Damen, a specialist in Christie’s Old Master Drawings Department, explained the significance of the work, saying, “One can grasp the full power of Michelangelo’s creative force through the drawing. We can almost feel the physical energy with which he rendered the form of the foot, pressing the red chalk vigorously onto the paper.”

The rediscovered sketch is one of the few surviving drawings by Michelangelo, as many of his works have been lost over time, with some even deliberately burned by the artist himself.

Christie’s highlighted that only two other Libyan Sibyl-related sketches remain—one in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and the other in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

By Sabina Mammadli