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The multinational is taking its “Christ of Sorrows” for a walk, which it hopes to sell for $ 40 million. But again all the experts are far from agreeing.
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The “Man of Sorrows”, which will be sold in January.
Credits: Sotheby’s.
It had to happen! Sotheby’s will auction a new Botticelli. A little cheaper than the previous one, but it must be said that the theme seems more difficult. It is no longer a handsome young man, improbably holding in his hand a disc cut from an older gold-ground painting, as in January 2021. This time it will be a Christ of sorrows, with a crown with thorns. Hence the difference in estimate. The young man, whom some experts found too attractive to be completely true, had “made” $ 91.2 million in New York City. Our Lord should be satisfied with 40 million of the same currency next January.
The multinational is doing its best to create a new event. George Wachter, president of Sotheby’s for America and co-director of the (small) department of old masters for the world, plays the card of astonishment and emotion. Two Botticelli in the same year, we had never seen this in living memory for generations! Especially when they are “of this quality”. El man to tout “the bold visual style” as “the human approach”. Too bad if, as his colleague Christopher Apostel (with an admirable name) reminds us, the subject remains “difficult and dark”. At the end of his life, Sandro Botticelli (died in 1510) was attracted by the mysticism of Jérôme Savanarole. This explains that. In any case, of the master’s last years “only three paintings remain in private hands”. Until we discover a fourth, of course!
Autograph or not?
The good news was therefore able to run through the least demanding art press. It dumps this kind of information without too many controls, starting with its sites. They are generally young assistants who summarize press releases while considering conveying information. No time to check. Auction houses are also excellent advertising clients. Let us also be careful. And there are in fact shocking arguments at Sotheby’s. The sign has not been seen for public sale since 1963 (it had reached 10,000 pounds by then). It comes from the descendant of a singer, who had acquired it on a whim in the 19th century. This is romantic. The work was loaned to the Städel Museum in Frankfurt for an exhibition in 2009. It was next to the museum’s “Bella Simonetta”, which today serves as a poster for the Botticelli exhibition at Jacquemart-André in Paris, which I recently spoke to you.
I figured it would be worth scratching. The “Young man with the puck” was already far from obtaining scientific unanimity in January on his autography. What does the trade press think of the “Man of Sorrows” now? In fact, not much good! A devastating article thus appeared in “The Art Newspaper”. He first of all recalls that “La bella Simonetta” undoubtedly constitutes a studio production, which Ana Debenedetti, the curator of Jacquemart-André, does not deny. When she says “feel” Botticelli’s hand here, it means that he conceived and drew the work before entrusting it to one of his assistants. His Parisian exhibition revolves precisely around the notion of workshop. Botticelli is for her a gifted entrepreneur. The latter was therefore able to distribute the highest quality products in Florence at the end of the 15th century.
Expert battle
“The Art Newspaper” specifies that if Keith Christiansen of the “Met” supports the “Man of Sorrows”, just like Laurence Kanter of the University Art Gallery in Yane, Scott Wethersole, a specialist of Botticelli, does not believe much in it. And there is also the painful reference to the 1978 book on the painter by Ronald Lightbown, which everyone agrees to find “seminal”. The paintings now on sale are all there, before skilful restorations made them as shiny as an American automobile of the 1950s. Gold “The man with the puck”, just like “The Man of Sorrows Are listed there under the heading of “studio works”. Even worse. For “The Man of Sorrows”, Lightbown (quietly dead in summer 2021) lists many versions of various formats. He is content to publish three, those of Bergamo, Detroit and Harvard, and to mention others (1). From the art of duplicates …
“The Art Newspaper”, like me, is finally surprised at the number of Botticelli in circulation today. Too much for a supposedly rare artist. And the author of the text to recall the portrait of a man sold by Schüler in Zurich a thousand times the estimate in 2019 (7.5 million francs) and the effigy of Michele Marullo Torcaniota, also offered in 2019 at the Frieze fair. London Masters. A painting recognized this time by everyone, which can now be seen at the Jacquemart-André Museum. At thirty million, it seemed almost given. When will the next Botticelli, if it actually sells for more than 40 million?
From Hong Kong to Dubai
That said, Sotheby’s is now knocking on the right doors. The painting has just been shown for several days in Hong Kong. He will go to Los Angeles, London and Dubai before returning to New York. We can clearly see which clientele is primarily targeted.
(1) Let’s be fair. In the paintings reproduced by Ronald Lightbown, Christ does not have exactly the same position. The hands are not crossed on the chest, but close to each other, the right being slightly raised. The face is also less frontal.
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