A Raphael sketch has fetched £29.7m at auction inLondon, setting a record price for any drawing in art history.The small-scaleHead of an Apostle prompted seventeen minutes of frenzied bidding at Sotheby'son Wednesday, almost doubling pre-sale estimates.
The 1519 chalkdrawing, a study for Raphael's Transfiguration, was part of a privatecollection held at Chatsworth House, home of the Duke of Devonshire.
In 2009,Raphael's Head of a Muse sold for £29.2m at Christie's.
Fluctuatingexchange rates suggest the Christie's drawing narrowly beat Head of an Apostlein dollar terms, but since both were sold in pounds, in London, Sotheby's isclaiming a record.
"If youare lucky, at some point in your career a work like this comes along,"said Gregory Rubinstein, head of old master drawings at Sotheby's.
"A numberof the world's greatest collectors stepped up tonight in recognition of thegenius of Raphael and the extraordinary beauty of this drawing, with itsexceptional provenance."
Speculationsuggests the winning phone bid came from Russia.
The ChatsworthHouse collection comprises about 3,000 old master drawings in total, includingworks by Rubens, Van Dyck and Rembrandt.
The Dukepreviously said the sale of the Raphael drawing, one of 14 he owns, willbenefit the long-term future of Chatsworth and its collections.
The 15 inch by11 inch (38 cm by 28 cm) Head of an Apostle is one of only three drawings ofthis calibre to have appeared at auction in the last 50 years.
Raphael'sTransfiguration, which hangs in Rome's Vatican Museum, is considered one of theItalian painter's greatest Renaissance works.
Source: BBC
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