Raphael drawing up for sale with $30 million estimate
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Buy SPH photosLONDON (REUTERS) - A major drawing by Italian Renaissance artist Raphael will go on sale in December with an estimated price between 10 million and 15 million pounds (S$19.7 million and S$29.6 million), auction house Sotheby's said on Tuesday.
The 16th-century Head Of An Apostle is a study for the Raphael's last painting, Transfiguration, which is on display at the Vatican Museum in Rome. Measuring roughly 38 cm by 28 cm, the picture was drawn in black chalk.
Only two other Raphael drawings of the same calibre have been auctioned off in the last 50 years, Sotheby's said. In 2009, Raphael's black chalk Head Of A Muse sold for 29.2 million pounds at Christie's London.
Currently part of the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth, the Head Of An Apostle is one of the greatest drawings by Raphael to remain in private hands, said Sotheby's. It is now on show at the Prado Museum in Madrid as part of an exhibit of late Raphael works.
