Raphael drawing for Vatican frescoes set to fetch record £16 million at sale

"Exceptional": Head of a Muse
12 April 2012

A study by the Renaissance master Raphael for one of his frescoes in the Vatican is set to smash records when it is sold next month.

Christie's experts believe it could sell for double the £8.1million record price for an Old Master drawing, set by Michelangelo's The Risen Christ in 2000.

The auction house has put an estimate of £12million to £16million on the Raphael, which has not been seen in public for a quarter of a century or at auction for 150 years. Its value lies in its connection with the frescoes in the Papal rooms of the Vatican, considered to be the artist's greatest masterpiece. The A4-size drawing, entitled Head of a Muse, relates to the third muse to the right of Apollo in Parnassus, the third of the four Stanza della Segnatura frescoes, painted between 1508 and 1511.

Benjamin Peronnet, of Christie's, said: "This truly exceptional drawing offers us a glimpse into the working mind of a genius."

Head of a Muse has been in the collections of the painter Sir Thomas Lawrence and then the future King William II of Holland. It goes on sale on 8 December.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in