The last of Sandro Botticelli’s original drawings still in the hands of a private owner will be auctioned in London for the first time after a century on July 9, 2014.
The “Study for a seated St. Joseph” realized by the celebrated Italian artist, author of other masterpieces such as “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera”, was part of Barbara Piasecka Johnson’s art collection. The late wife of Mr. “Johnson and Johnson”, co-founder of the famous medical and pharmaceutical company, was an expert collector and philanthropist who established a Foundation committed to supporting humanitarian causes worldwide.
Botticelli’s drawing will be put up for auction at Sotheby’s starting from 1,8 million euro, along with two Florentine Renaissance draperies from the important workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio and the powerful painting “The Sacrifice of Isaac” by Caravaggio’s talented follower Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, for an estimated total value of 10 million.
They will be presented in the “Old Master and British Paintings” auction, and the proceeds will benefit the above-mentioned Barbara Johnson Foundation to help children affected by autism.
The director of Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings department, Cristiana Romalli, underlined that: “Almost all of the key drawings from the Italian Renaissance are by now in public collections, so it is extraordinary to be able to present three extremely important sheets of this type in one single sale”.
In fact, besides an album of illustrations for Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, there are only 12 surviving drawings by the Italian painter, and all but this one are housed in museums or institutions.
Dating from the late 15th, the “Study for a seated St. Joseph” was realized on a sheet of beige-pink washed paper using pen and brown ink heightened with white over black chalk, and it portrays the Saint with his head resting on his right hand.
The rare art piece can be clearly recognized as a preparatory drawing for a nativity, most likely the masterwork “The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist”, and it contributes to increase the knowledge of Botticelli’s pictorial technique.
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