Michelangelo Sketch Shatters Auction Record at $27.2M

A rediscovered Michelangelo drawing has obliterated its pre-sale estimate, fetching $27.2 million USD at Christie's New York. The work—a preparatory study for the Libyan Sibyl's foot on the Sistine Chapel ceiling—was expected to sell for roughly $1.5 to $2 million, making the final hammer price a watershed moment for Old Master scholarship and the contemporary art market alike.

The drawing's resurrection began unremarkably. The current owner, unaware of the sketch's provenance, uploaded a photograph through Christie's online valuation portal. What emerged from that submission was singular: this is the only known preparatory study for the Sistine Chapel's frescoed ceiling to remain in private hands—a distinction that fundamentally altered the work's cultural weight and market value.

Historical Significance

Michelangelo's process for the chapel's ceiling involved extensive preliminary studies. These cartoons and sketches rarely survive intact, and even fewer escape institutional collections. The isolation of this particular foot study in a private collection transforms it from a footnote in art historical documentation into a tangible artifact of creative method—a direct window into the master's hand as he conceived one of Western art's most iconic figures.

The Libyan Sibyl herself occupies a central position within the chapel's cosmology, and her monumental form required Michelangelo's characteristic anatomical precision. A study of her foot, therefore, speaks to the obsessive care he invested in every contour, every proportion. The result was not merely a higher valuation but a reordering of how collectors and institutions understand the availability of canonical Renaissance works.

Release Info

Status: Sold

Final Price: $27.2 million USD

Original Estimate: $1.5–$2 million USD

Auction House: Christie's New York

Ownership: Private collection