2024-04-16
Just a year after the auction record for a painting by the Florentine painter ('Portrait of a young man holding a medal' for $92 million), another work by Sandro Botticelli is being sold at auction at Sotheby’s. The amount for “Man of Sorrows'' exceeded 45 million dollars and expert estimates.
The representation has a very interesting iconography. Vir Dolorum (Man of Sorrows) is a depiction of Christ showing his wounds. In Botticelli's painting, Jesus is depicted wearing a red robe, with a crown of thorns on his head, his hands bound with a rope. His halo is formed of angels holding arma Christi (objects that took part in the Passion). Objects are depicted in great detail, the viewer can be impressed by the precise drawing and sorrow in the Saviour's eyes. The painting has a gilded frame and was painted in the years 1500-1510 by Sandro Botticelli using the technique of tempera painting on panel.
One of the first known owners of the painting was the British opera singer Adelaide Kemble Sartoris (1815-1879). Her heir, Pamela Stanley, an actress, sold the work at auction in 1963 for £10,000 as a work from Botticelli's workshop. In 2009, The Husband of Sorrows was recognized as a work by the Florentine master. The painting is one of around five works by Sandro Botticelli remaining in the hands of private collectors.
The painting came to Sotheby's from a private American collection, where it had been held since 1963. This year's auction in New York lasted just seven minutes. It took place simultaneously in person and online, in order to allow interested collectors from Europe and Asia to participate.