Getting your hands on a Leonardo da Vinci piece is no easy feat. And proving so is the latest sale of ‘Head of a Bear’ – a sketch by the artist that depicts just that. The drawing is set to go under the hammer for over $16 million, as per reports.
Measuring just under 3 inches, the square paper is “one of less than eight surviving drawings by Leonardo still in private hands outside of the British Royal Collection and the Devonshire Collections at Chatsworth,” as per auction house Christie’s.
Commenting on it, Stijn Alsteens, International Head of Department, Old Masters Group, Christie’s Paris, in a statement said, “I have every reason to believe we will achieve a new record in July for ‘Head of a Bear,’ one of the last drawings by Leonardo that can be expected to come onto the market.”
The drawing was previously owned by British painter Thomas Lawrence, and upon his death in 1830, it was passed to his dealer Samuel Woodburn. It will be displayed at Christie’s in New York on Saturday, then in Hong Kong later in the month before it makes its way to London in June.
The ‘Head of a Bear’ will be sold at Christie’s “Exceptional Sale” on July 8 for an estimated price of $11.14 million – $16.71 million.
[Via: Independent]
